Primary production in polar waters: relation to nutrient availability

[摘要] Temperature, light and dissolved nutrients are considered the “master” properties controlling primary production in the ocean. Each of these properties, in turn, is influenced by water column stability Sustained research over the past several decades has endeavored to ascertain which of these properties is most important in regulating phytoplankton growth. In no region has this research effort been more evident than at high latitudes. For both polar regions, extremes in each of these properties are the rule in surface waters where phytoplankton grows: the lowest ocean temperatures, the greatest seasonal excursion in incident solar radiation, and the highest dissolved nutrient concentrations.Based largely on indirect evidence, early researchers speculated that polar primary production was high relative to production at lower latitudes. This was commonly attributed to the abundant surface “macronutrients" (NO3, PO4, H4SiO4) since physiological adaptations to the suboptimum temperatures and light were though...

[学科分类] 自然科学（综合）