This research will study the processes that cause the relative biological availability of nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) in the upper ocean to change as water moves from the coast to offshore in the northern Gulf of Mexico. Both N and P are nutrients required by phytoplankton and other microorganisms. Consequently, the ratio of N to P in the upper ocean has important consequences for plant growth and the marine food web structure. Typically, as water moves offshore bioavailable N declines faster than bioavailable P. While processes that alter either element will affect the N to P ratio, previous research has focused mainly on the N side of the relationship, examining cycling and the selective removal of different forms of N from the water by marine microorganisms. This project will focus instead on the less-studied P side of the N to P ratio in the upper ocean. It will use shipboard experiments to quantify microbiological processes that maintain P availability in the upper ocean, even as N availability declines. Given that low N availability relative to P limits plant growth in most of the ocean's sunlit surface waters, understanding how this chemical ratio develops as water moves offshore is of fundamental importance for the study of marine ecosystems worldwide. Educational impact will include direct participation by undergraduate and graduate students in the research, providing hands-on and cross-disciplinary training, as well as practical experience at sea. One middle school teacher will also participate in each of the oceanographic cruises. They will incorporate field results and personal experiences into lesson plans and teachers' workshops. The project will also develop public outreach activities that focus on the unique value of marine ecosystems of the Gulf of Mexico.
This project will test the hypothesis that the decline in the
ratio of bioavailable N to P in surface water as it moves
offshore develops from preferential phosphorus retention as
opposed to removal of biologically-available forms of nitrogen.
As part of the research associated with this central hypothesis,
the project will quantitatively compare the relative importance
of different phosphorus-retention mechanisms during two
oceanographic cruises in the northern Gulf of Mexico. Previous
observations of spatial changes in N and P availability are
common. The researchers will track discrete water masses with
Lagrangian drifters for time course sampling, and use physical
oceanographic measurements to quantify potential N to P ratio
changes contributed by vertical and horizontal mixing. Shipboard
incubation experiments will quantify and compare rates for the
key microbiological processes thought to affect phosphorus
retention in the upper ocean. This focus on potential
P-retention processes rather than N loss as an explanation of
commonly observed declines in surface ocean N to P ratio
represents a unique contribution to the complete understanding
of the complex feedback mechanisms between nutrient cycles and
marine ecosystem function.
The first cruise will take place between the 18th
August and 2nd September 2018 out of Gulfport MS on the R/V
Endeavor. The potential sampling location based on data
from previous cruise is shown below.
