Microbial iron limitation in the ocean’s twilight zone

Jingxuan Li, Lydia Babcock-Adams, Rene M. Boiteau, Matthew R. McIlvin, Lauren E. Manck, Matthias Sieber, Nathan T. Lanning, Randelle M. Bundy, Xiaopeng Bian, Iulia-Mădălina Ștreangă, Benjamin N. Granzow, Matthew J. Church, Jessica N. Fitzsimmons, Seth G. John, Tim M. Conway and Daniel J. Repeta ()
Additional contact information
Jingxuan Li: Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution
Lydia Babcock-Adams: Florida State University
Rene M. Boiteau: University of Minnesota
Matthew R. McIlvin: Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution
Lauren E. Manck: University of Montana
Matthias Sieber: University of South Florida
Nathan T. Lanning: Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Randelle M. Bundy: University of Washington
Xiaopeng Bian: University of Southern California
Iulia-Mădălina Ștreangă: Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution
Benjamin N. Granzow: Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution
Matthew J. Church: University of Montana
Jessica N. Fitzsimmons: Texas A&M University
Seth G. John: University of Southern California
Tim M. Conway: University of South Florida
Daniel J. Repeta: Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution

Nature, 2024, vol. 633, issue 8031, 823-827

Abstract: Abstract Primary production in the sunlit surface ocean is regulated by the supply of key nutrients, primarily nitrate, phosphate and iron (Fe), required by phytoplankton to fix carbon dioxide into biomass1–3. Below the surface ocean, remineralization of sinking organic matter rapidly regenerates nutrients, and microbial metabolism in the upper mesopelagic ‘twilight zone’ (200–500 m) is thought to be limited by the delivery of labile organic carbon4,5. However, few studies have examined the role of nutrients in shaping microbial production in the mesopelagic6–8. Here we report the distribution and uptake of siderophores, biomarkers for microbial Fe deficiency9 across a meridional section of the eastern Pacific Ocean. Siderophore concentrations are high not only in chronically Fe-limited surface waters but also in the twilight zone underlying the North and South Pacific subtropical gyres, two key ecosystems for the marine carbon cycle. Our findings suggest that bacterial Fe deficiency owing to low Fe availability is probably characteristic of the twilight zone in several large ocean basins, greatly expanding the region of the marine water column in which nutrients limit microbial metabolism, with potential implications for ocean carbon storage.

Date: 2024
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-024-07905-z Abstract (text/html)
Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:nat:nature:v:633:y:2024:i:8031:d:10.1038_s41586-024-07905-z

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
https://www.nature.com/

DOI: 10.1038/s41586-024-07905-z

Access Statistics for this article

Nature is currently edited by Magdalena Skipper

More articles in Nature from Nature
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().