This award is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5).
The diazotroph Trichodesmium spp. constitutes a major pathway of nitrogen flow into marine planktonic ecosystems, but estimates of its impact on global nitrogen budgets vary widely. Sampling is made difficult by the fragility of the organism with the consequence that Trichodesmium spp. are difficult to manipulate in both field and laboratory experiments. Optical methods that sample the organism nondestructively are thus appealing. A recent transatlantic survey using the Video Plankton Recorder (VPR) revealed unexpectedly high abundance of Trichodesmium spp. at depth, suggesting the vertical distribution of the organism within the euphotic zone may be more uniform than previously thought. Application of a simple bio-optical model of productivity to the observed profile of abundance suggests the depth-integrated nitrogen fixation rate could be three to five times higher than that based on the canonical profile of exponential decrease in abundance with depth. However, the observations described in Davis and McGillicuddy (2006) come from a latitude range where Trichodesmium spp. are not especially abundant. This raises a key question: is there a similar vertical distribution in waters further to the south, where Trichodesmium spp. are an order of magnitude more abundant overall? If so, are the deep populations actively fixing nitrogen? If so, the implications for the global nitrogen budget would be substantial.
To answer these questions, the PIs will survey the waters of the southern Sargasso Sea and tropical Atlantic on two cruises. Along-track VPR measurements will be used to document the abundance and distribution of the organism on the scale of meters to thousands of kilometers. Standard hydrographic station work will provide for comparison of VPR-based estimates with microscope counts, as well as some additional in situ optical methods. A combination of nifH gene expression assays and direct determinations of N2-fixation rates will be made to assess whether or not the deep populations are actively fixing nitrogen.
These observations will be synthesized in the context of an eddy-resolving numerical model. This will permit investigation of the mechanisms controlling the vertical and horizontal distribution and abundance of Trichodesmium spp. at multiple scales, including the enigmatic association of relative maxima in abundance with anticyclonic eddies. Moreover, integration of these observations into the numerical model will facilitate revised estimates of nitrogen fixation by Trichodesmium spp. in the North Atlantic.
The intellectual merit of this project is its interdisciplinary approach (physics and biology), advanced observational techniques (optical imaging, molecular methods) and integrated analysis in the context of state-of-the-art coupled physical-biogeochemical models. This project will provide new insights into the complex oceanographic phenomena regulating nitrogen fixation and its impact on biogeochemical cycling at the scale of an ocean basin.
Broader impacts of this project include training of graduate and undergraduate students, and enhancement of an existing web-based outreach program www.whyville.net geared toward promoting science literacy in children ages 8-14.
