Effect of Ocean Acidification on Iron Availability to Marine Phytoplankton

From Soft-Matter
Revision as of 16:40, 17 November 2010 by Amao (Talk | contribs)

Jump to: navigation, search

Entry by Angelo Mao, AP 225, Fall 2010

Title: Effect of Ocean Acidification on Iron Availability to Marine Phytoplankton

Authors: Dalin Shi, Yan Xu, Brian M. Hopkinson, François M. M. Morel

Journal: Science

Volume: Vol 327

Pages: 676-679


Summary

Increased concentrations of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere lowers the ocean pH, which may have effects on phytoplankton species that form the basis of food chains in the ocean. The researchers determined that lower pH lowers iron uptake by phytoplankton. They determined that pH does not alter phytoplankton food uptake, and that it is the effect of acidification on the acid-base chemistry of release of iron from chelators that leads to lower iron uptake by phytoplankton species.

soft matter keywords: colloid, solubility, pH

Fe' concentration predicts uptake

File:Mao7 1.jpeg
Figure 1. Steady-state iron uptake in different species of phytoplankton. A, B, D, and E depict iron uptake as a function of total iron concentration at different pH. C and F depict iron uptake as a function of unchelated iron concentration, Fe'.
Retrieved from "http://soft-matter.seas.harvard.edu/index.php?title=Effect_of_Ocean_Acidification_on_Iron_Availability_to_Marine_Phytoplankton&oldid=15861"