The impact of fish and the commercial marine harvest on the ocean iron cycle.
Although iron is the fourth most abundant element in the Earth's crust, bioavailable iron limits marine primary production in about one third of the ocean. This lack of iron availability has implications in climate change because the removal of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere by phytoplankto...
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ftdoajarticles:oai:doaj.org/article:a7ab95cd41c245c2b6564f55a3159fe2 2023-05-15T16:41:31+02:00 The impact of fish and the commercial marine harvest on the ocean iron cycle. Allison R Moreno Arlene L M Haffa 2014-01-01T00:00:00Z https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0107690 https://doaj.org/article/a7ab95cd41c245c2b6564f55a3159fe2 EN eng Public Library of Science (PLoS) http://europepmc.org/articles/PMC4175471?pdf=render https://doaj.org/toc/1932-6203 1932-6203 doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0107690 https://doaj.org/article/a7ab95cd41c245c2b6564f55a3159fe2 PLoS ONE, Vol 9, Iss 9, p e107690 (2014) Medicine R Science Q article 2014 ftdoajarticles https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0107690 2022-12-31T15:54:08Z Although iron is the fourth most abundant element in the Earth's crust, bioavailable iron limits marine primary production in about one third of the ocean. This lack of iron availability has implications in climate change because the removal of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere by phytoplankton requires iron. Using literature values for global fish biomass estimates, and elemental composition data we estimate that fish biota store between 0.7-7 × 10(11) g of iron. Additionally, the global fish population recycles through excretion between 0.4-1.5 × 10(12) g of iron per year, which is of a similar magnitude as major recognized sources of iron (e.g. dust, sediments, ice sheet melting). In terms of biological impact this iron could be superior to dust inputs due to the distributed deposition and to the greater solubility of fecal pellets compared to inorganic minerals. To estimate a loss term due to anthropogenic activity the total commercial catch for 1950 to 2010 was obtained from the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. Marine catch data were separated by taxa. High and low end values for elemental composition were obtained for each taxonomic category from the literature and used to calculate iron per mass of total harvest over time. The marine commercial catch is estimated to have removed 1-6 × 10(9) g of iron in 1950, the lowest values on record. There is an annual increase to 0.7-3 × 10(10) g in 1996, which declines to 0.6-2 × 10(10) g in 2010. While small compared to the total iron terms in the cycle, these could have compounding effects on distribution and concentration patterns globally over time. These storage, recycling, and export terms of biotic iron are not currently included in ocean iron mass balance calculations. These data suggest that fish and anthropogenic activity should be included in global oceanic iron cycles. Article in Journal/Newspaper Ice Sheet Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles PLoS ONE 9 9 e107690 |
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Medicine R Science Q |
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Medicine R Science Q Allison R Moreno Arlene L M Haffa The impact of fish and the commercial marine harvest on the ocean iron cycle. |
topic_facet |
Medicine R Science Q |
description |
Although iron is the fourth most abundant element in the Earth's crust, bioavailable iron limits marine primary production in about one third of the ocean. This lack of iron availability has implications in climate change because the removal of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere by phytoplankton requires iron. Using literature values for global fish biomass estimates, and elemental composition data we estimate that fish biota store between 0.7-7 × 10(11) g of iron. Additionally, the global fish population recycles through excretion between 0.4-1.5 × 10(12) g of iron per year, which is of a similar magnitude as major recognized sources of iron (e.g. dust, sediments, ice sheet melting). In terms of biological impact this iron could be superior to dust inputs due to the distributed deposition and to the greater solubility of fecal pellets compared to inorganic minerals. To estimate a loss term due to anthropogenic activity the total commercial catch for 1950 to 2010 was obtained from the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. Marine catch data were separated by taxa. High and low end values for elemental composition were obtained for each taxonomic category from the literature and used to calculate iron per mass of total harvest over time. The marine commercial catch is estimated to have removed 1-6 × 10(9) g of iron in 1950, the lowest values on record. There is an annual increase to 0.7-3 × 10(10) g in 1996, which declines to 0.6-2 × 10(10) g in 2010. While small compared to the total iron terms in the cycle, these could have compounding effects on distribution and concentration patterns globally over time. These storage, recycling, and export terms of biotic iron are not currently included in ocean iron mass balance calculations. These data suggest that fish and anthropogenic activity should be included in global oceanic iron cycles. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Allison R Moreno Arlene L M Haffa |
author_facet |
Allison R Moreno Arlene L M Haffa |
author_sort |
Allison R Moreno |
title |
The impact of fish and the commercial marine harvest on the ocean iron cycle. |
title_short |
The impact of fish and the commercial marine harvest on the ocean iron cycle. |
title_full |
The impact of fish and the commercial marine harvest on the ocean iron cycle. |
title_fullStr |
The impact of fish and the commercial marine harvest on the ocean iron cycle. |
title_full_unstemmed |
The impact of fish and the commercial marine harvest on the ocean iron cycle. |
title_sort |
impact of fish and the commercial marine harvest on the ocean iron cycle. |
publisher |
Public Library of Science (PLoS) |
publishDate |
2014 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0107690 https://doaj.org/article/a7ab95cd41c245c2b6564f55a3159fe2 |
genre |
Ice Sheet |
genre_facet |
Ice Sheet |
op_source |
PLoS ONE, Vol 9, Iss 9, p e107690 (2014) |
op_relation |
http://europepmc.org/articles/PMC4175471?pdf=render https://doaj.org/toc/1932-6203 1932-6203 doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0107690 https://doaj.org/article/a7ab95cd41c245c2b6564f55a3159fe2 |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0107690 |
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PLoS ONE |
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9 |
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