The Southern Ocean diatom Chaetoceros debilis is limited in growth by iron and manganese together

In some parts of the Southern Ocean (SO), even though low surface concentrations of iron (Fe) and manganese (Mn) indicate FeMn co-limitation, we still lack an understanding on how Mn and Fe availability influences SO phytoplankton ecophysiology. Therefore, this study investigated the effects of Fe a...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Pausch, Franziska, Bischof, Kai, Trimborn, Scarlett
Format: Dataset
Language:English
Published: PANGAEA 2019
Subjects:
Carbon
organic
particulate
per cell
Carbon/Nitrogen ratio
standard deviation
co-limitation
diatom
Electron transport rate
absolute
Fe
Functional absorption cross sections of photosystem II reaction centers
growth
Growth rate
Irradiance
Maximum photochemical quantum yield of photosystem II
Mn
Particulate organic carbon
production
Particulate organic carbon content per cell
Particulate organic carbon production per cell
Photosynthesis
Phytoplankton growth rate
Species
trace metals
Treatment
Type
Antarctic
Southern Ocean
Antarc*
Online Access:https://doi.pangaea.de/10.1594/PANGAEA.905473
https://doi.org/10.1594/PANGAEA.905473
Description
Summary:In some parts of the Southern Ocean (SO), even though low surface concentrations of iron (Fe) and manganese (Mn) indicate FeMn co-limitation, we still lack an understanding on how Mn and Fe availability influences SO phytoplankton ecophysiology. Therefore, this study investigated the effects of Fe and Mn limitation alone as well as their combination on growth, photophysiology and particulate organic carbon production of the bloom-forming Antarctic diatom Chaetoceros debilis. Our results clearly show that growth, photochemical efficiency and carbon production of C. debilis were co-limited by Fe and Mn as highest values were only reached when both nutrients were provided. Even though Mn-deficient cells had higher photochemical efficiencies than Fe-limited ones, they, however, displayed similar low growth and POC production rates, indicating that Mn limitation alone drastically impeded the cell's performance. These results demonstrate that similar to low Fe concentrations, low Mn availability inhibits growth and carbon production of C. debilis. As a result from different species-specific trace metal requirements, SO phytoplankton species distribution and productivity may therefore not solely depend on the input of Fe alone, but also critically on Mn acting together as important drivers of SO phytoplankton ecology and biogeochemistry.

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