The effects of natural iron fertilisation on deep-sea ecology: the Crozet Plateau, Southern Indian Ocean.
The addition of iron to high-nutrient low-chlorophyll (HNLC) oceanic waters stimulates phytoplankton, leading to greater primary production. Large-scale artificial ocean iron fertilization (OIF) has been proposed as a means of mitigating anthropogenic atmospheric CO(2), but its impacts on ocean ecos...
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ftdoajarticles:oai:doaj.org/article:d9dcf9528c264c5bbcde5d5105568ae0 2023-05-15T15:59:32+02:00 The effects of natural iron fertilisation on deep-sea ecology: the Crozet Plateau, Southern Indian Ocean. George A Wolff David S M Billett Brian J Bett Jens Holtvoeth Tania FitzGeorge-Balfour Elizabeth H Fisher Ian Cross Roger Shannon Ian Salter Ben Boorman Nicola J King Alan Jamieson Frédéric Chaillan 2011-01-01T00:00:00Z https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0020697 https://doaj.org/article/d9dcf9528c264c5bbcde5d5105568ae0 EN eng Public Library of Science (PLoS) http://europepmc.org/articles/PMC3114783?pdf=render https://doaj.org/toc/1932-6203 1932-6203 doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0020697 https://doaj.org/article/d9dcf9528c264c5bbcde5d5105568ae0 PLoS ONE, Vol 6, Iss 6, p e20697 (2011) Medicine R Science Q article 2011 ftdoajarticles https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0020697 2022-12-31T00:33:32Z The addition of iron to high-nutrient low-chlorophyll (HNLC) oceanic waters stimulates phytoplankton, leading to greater primary production. Large-scale artificial ocean iron fertilization (OIF) has been proposed as a means of mitigating anthropogenic atmospheric CO(2), but its impacts on ocean ecosystems below the photic zone are unknown. Natural OIF, through the addition of iron leached from volcanic islands, has been shown to enhance primary productivity and carbon export and so can be used to study the effects of OIF on life in the ocean. We compared two closely-located deep-sea sites (∼400 km apart and both at ∼4200 m water depth) to the East (naturally iron fertilized; +Fe) and South (HNLC) of the Crozet Islands in the southern Indian Ocean. Our results suggest that long-term geo-engineering of surface oceanic waters via artificial OIF would lead to significant changes in deep-sea ecosystems. We found that the +Fe area had greater supplies of organic matter inputs to the seafloor, including polyunsaturated fatty acid and carotenoid nutrients. The +Fe site also had greater densities and biomasses of large deep-sea animals with lower levels of evenness in community structuring. The species composition was also very different, with the +Fe site showing similarities to eutrophic sites in other ocean basins. Moreover, major differences occurred in the taxa at the +Fe and HNLC sites revealing the crucial role that surface oceanic conditions play in changing and structuring deep-sea benthic communities. Article in Journal/Newspaper Crozet Islands Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles Indian PLoS ONE 6 6 e20697 |
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Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles |
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English |
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Medicine R Science Q |
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Medicine R Science Q George A Wolff David S M Billett Brian J Bett Jens Holtvoeth Tania FitzGeorge-Balfour Elizabeth H Fisher Ian Cross Roger Shannon Ian Salter Ben Boorman Nicola J King Alan Jamieson Frédéric Chaillan The effects of natural iron fertilisation on deep-sea ecology: the Crozet Plateau, Southern Indian Ocean. |
topic_facet |
Medicine R Science Q |
description |
The addition of iron to high-nutrient low-chlorophyll (HNLC) oceanic waters stimulates phytoplankton, leading to greater primary production. Large-scale artificial ocean iron fertilization (OIF) has been proposed as a means of mitigating anthropogenic atmospheric CO(2), but its impacts on ocean ecosystems below the photic zone are unknown. Natural OIF, through the addition of iron leached from volcanic islands, has been shown to enhance primary productivity and carbon export and so can be used to study the effects of OIF on life in the ocean. We compared two closely-located deep-sea sites (∼400 km apart and both at ∼4200 m water depth) to the East (naturally iron fertilized; +Fe) and South (HNLC) of the Crozet Islands in the southern Indian Ocean. Our results suggest that long-term geo-engineering of surface oceanic waters via artificial OIF would lead to significant changes in deep-sea ecosystems. We found that the +Fe area had greater supplies of organic matter inputs to the seafloor, including polyunsaturated fatty acid and carotenoid nutrients. The +Fe site also had greater densities and biomasses of large deep-sea animals with lower levels of evenness in community structuring. The species composition was also very different, with the +Fe site showing similarities to eutrophic sites in other ocean basins. Moreover, major differences occurred in the taxa at the +Fe and HNLC sites revealing the crucial role that surface oceanic conditions play in changing and structuring deep-sea benthic communities. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
George A Wolff David S M Billett Brian J Bett Jens Holtvoeth Tania FitzGeorge-Balfour Elizabeth H Fisher Ian Cross Roger Shannon Ian Salter Ben Boorman Nicola J King Alan Jamieson Frédéric Chaillan |
author_facet |
George A Wolff David S M Billett Brian J Bett Jens Holtvoeth Tania FitzGeorge-Balfour Elizabeth H Fisher Ian Cross Roger Shannon Ian Salter Ben Boorman Nicola J King Alan Jamieson Frédéric Chaillan |
author_sort |
George A Wolff |
title |
The effects of natural iron fertilisation on deep-sea ecology: the Crozet Plateau, Southern Indian Ocean. |
title_short |
The effects of natural iron fertilisation on deep-sea ecology: the Crozet Plateau, Southern Indian Ocean. |
title_full |
The effects of natural iron fertilisation on deep-sea ecology: the Crozet Plateau, Southern Indian Ocean. |
title_fullStr |
The effects of natural iron fertilisation on deep-sea ecology: the Crozet Plateau, Southern Indian Ocean. |
title_full_unstemmed |
The effects of natural iron fertilisation on deep-sea ecology: the Crozet Plateau, Southern Indian Ocean. |
title_sort |
effects of natural iron fertilisation on deep-sea ecology: the crozet plateau, southern indian ocean. |
publisher |
Public Library of Science (PLoS) |
publishDate |
2011 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0020697 https://doaj.org/article/d9dcf9528c264c5bbcde5d5105568ae0 |
geographic |
Indian |
geographic_facet |
Indian |
genre |
Crozet Islands |
genre_facet |
Crozet Islands |
op_source |
PLoS ONE, Vol 6, Iss 6, p e20697 (2011) |
op_relation |
http://europepmc.org/articles/PMC3114783?pdf=render https://doaj.org/toc/1932-6203 1932-6203 doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0020697 https://doaj.org/article/d9dcf9528c264c5bbcde5d5105568ae0 |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0020697 |
container_title |
PLoS ONE |
container_volume |
6 |
container_issue |
6 |
container_start_page |
e20697 |
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