Van Mooy Benjamin A. S.

No Thumbnail Available
Last Name
Van Mooy
First Name
Benjamin A. S.
ORCID
0000-0002-2804-6508

Filters

Reset filters

Settings

Search Results

Now showing 1 - 20 of 57
  • Article
    The mutual interplay between calcification and coccolithovirus infection
    (Wiley, 2018-07-24) Johns, Christopher T. ; Grubb, Austin R. ; Nissimov, Jozef I. ; Natale, Frank ; Knapp, Viki ; Mui, Alwin ; Fredricks, Helen F. ; Van Mooy, Benjamin A. S. ; Bidle, Kay D.
    Two prominent characteristics of marine coccolithophores are their secretion of coccoliths and their susceptibility to infection by coccolithoviruses (EhVs), both of which display variation among cells in culture and in natural populations. We examined the impact of calcification on infection by challenging a variety of Emiliania huxleyi strains at different calcification states with EhVs of different virulence. Reduced cellular calcification was associated with increased infection and EhV production, even though calcified cells and associated coccoliths had significantly higher adsorption coefficients than non‐calcified (naked) cells. Sialic acid glycosphingolipids, molecules thought to mediate EhV infection, were generally more abundant in calcified cells and enriched in purified, sorted coccoliths, suggesting a biochemical link between calcification and adsorption rates. In turn, viable EhVs impacted cellular calcification absent of lysis by inducing dramatic shifts in optical side scatter signals and a massive release of detached coccoliths in a subpopulation of cells, which could be triggered by resuspension of healthy, calcified host cells in an EhV‐free, ‘induced media’. Our findings show that calcification is a key component of the E. huxleyi‐EhV arms race and an aspect that is critical both to the modelling of these host–virus interactions in the ocean and interpreting their impact on the global carbon cycle.
  • Article
    Coordinated transformation of the gut microbiome and lipidome of bowhead whales provides novel insights into digestion
    (Springer Nature, 2019-12-02) Miller, Carolyn A. ; Holm, Henry C. ; Horstmann, Lara ; George, John C. ; Fredricks, Helen F. ; Van Mooy, Benjamin A. S. ; Apprill, Amy
    Whale digestion plays an integral role in many ocean ecosystems. By digesting enormous quantities of lipid-rich prey, whales support their energy intensive lifestyle, but also excrete nutrients important to ocean biogeochemical cycles. Nevertheless, whale digestion is poorly understood. Gastrointestinal microorganisms play a significant role in vertebrate digestion, but few studies have examined them in whales. To investigate digestion of lipids, and the potential contribution of microbes to lipid digestion in whales, we characterized lipid composition (lipidomes) and bacterial communities (microbiotas) in 126 digesta samples collected throughout the gastrointestinal tracts of 38 bowhead whales (Balaena mysticetus) harvested by Alaskan Eskimos. Lipidomes and microbiotas were strongly correlated throughout the gastrointestinal tract. Lipidomes and microbiotas were most variable in the small intestine and most similar in the large intestine, where microbiota richness was greatest. Our results suggest digestion of wax esters, the primary lipids in B. mysticetus prey representing more than 80% of total dietary lipids, occurred in the mid- to distal small intestine and was correlated with specific microorganisms. Because wax esters are difficult to digest by other marine vertebrates and constitute a large reservoir of carbon in the ocean, our results further elucidate the essential roles that whales and their gastrointestinal microbiotas play in the biogeochemical cycling of carbon and nutrients in high-latitude seas.
  • Preprint
    The molecular products and biogeochemical significance of lipid photooxidation in West Antarctic surface waters
    ( 2018-04) Collins, James R. ; Fredricks, Helen F. ; Bowman, Jeff S. ; Ward, Collin P. ; Moreno, Carly ; Longnecker, Krista ; Marchetti, Adrian ; Hansel, Colleen M. ; Ducklow, Hugh W. ; Van Mooy, Benjamin A. S.
    The seasonal depletion of stratospheric ozone over the Southern Hemisphere allows abnormally high doses of ultraviolet radiation (UVR) to reach surface waters of the West Antarctic Peninsula (WAP) in the austral spring, creating a natural laboratory for the study of lipid photooxidation in the shallow mixed layer of the marginal ice zone. The photooxidation of lipids under such conditions has been identified as a significant source of stress to microorganisms, and short-chain fatty acids altered by photochemical processes have been found in both marine aerosols and sinking marine particle material. However, the biogeochemical impact of lipid photooxidation has not been quantitatively compared at ecosystem scale to the many other biological and abiotic processes that can transform particulate organic matter in the surface ocean. We combined results from field experiments with diverse environmental data, including high-resolution, accurate-mass HPLC-ESI-MS analysis of lipid extracts and in situ measurements of ultraviolet irradiance, to address several unresolved questions about lipid photooxidation in the marine environment. In our experiments, we used liposomes — nonliving, cell-like aggregations of lipids — to examine the photolability of various moieties of the intact polar diacylglycerol (IP-DAG) phosphatidylcholine (PC), a structural component of membranes in a broad range of microorganisms. We observed significant rates of photooxidation only when the molecule contained the polyunsaturated fatty acid (PUFA) docosahexaenoic acid (DHA). As the DHA-containing lipid was oxidized, we observed the steady ingrowth of a diversity of oxylipins and oxidized IP-DAG; our results suggest both the intact IPDAG the degradation products were amenable to heterotrophic assimilation. To complement our experiments, we used an enhanced version of a new lipidomics discovery software package to identify the lipids in water column samples and in several diatom isolates. The galactolipid digalactosyldiacylglycerol (DGDG), the sulfolipid sulfoquinovosyldiacylglycerol (SQDG) and the phospholipids PC and phosphatidylglycerol (PG) accounted for the majority of IP-DAG in the water column particulate (≥ 0.2 μm) size fraction; between 3.4 and 5.3 % of the IP-DAG contained fatty acids that were both highly polyunsaturated (i.e., each containing ≥ 5 double bonds). Using a broadband apparent quantum yield (AQY) that accounted for direct and Type I (i.e., radical-mediated) photooxidation of PUFA-containing IP-DAG, we estimated that 0.7 ± 0.2 μmol IP-DAG m-2 d-1 (0.5 ± 0.1 mg C m-2 d-1) were oxidized by photochemical processes in the mixed layer. This rate represented 4.4 % (range, 3-21 %) of the mean bacterial production rate measured in the same waters immediately following the retreat of the sea ice. Because our liposome experiments were not designed to account for oxidation by Type II photosensitized processes that often dominate in marine phytodetritus, our rate estimates may represent a sizeable underestimate of the true rate of lipid photooxidation in the water column. While production of such diverse oxidized lipids and oxylipins has been previously observed in terrestrial plants and mammals in response to biological stressors such as disease, we show here that a similar suite of molecules can be produced via an abiotic process in the environment and that the effect can be commensurate in magnitude with other ecosystem-scale biogeochemical processes.
  • Article
    Virus infection of Haptolina ericina and Phaeocystis pouchetii implicates evolutionary conservation of programmed cell death induction in marine haptophyte–virus interactions
    (Oxford University Press, 2014-05-05) Ray, Jessica L. ; Haramaty, Liti ; Thyrhaug, Runar ; Fredricks, Helen F. ; Van Mooy, Benjamin A. S. ; Larsen, Aud ; Bidle, Kay D. ; Sandaa, Ruth-Anne
    The mechanisms by which phytoplankton cope with stressors in the marine environment are neither fully characterized nor understood. As viruses are the most abundant entities in the global ocean and represent a strong top-down regulator of phytoplankton abundance and diversity, we sought to characterize the cellular response of two marine haptophytes to virus infection in order to gain more knowledge about the nature and diversity of microalgal responses to this chronic biotic stressor. We infected laboratory cultures of the haptophytes Haptolina ericina and Phaeocystis pouchetii with CeV-01B or PpV-01B dsDNA viruses, respectively, and assessed the extent to which host cellular responses resemble programmed cell death (PCD) through the activation of diagnostic molecular and biochemical markers. Pronounced DNA fragmentation and activation of cysteine aspartate-specific proteases (caspases) were only detected in virus-infected cultures of these phytoplankton. Inhibition of host caspase activity by addition of the pan-caspase inhibitor z-VAD-fmk did not impair virus production in either host–virus system, differentiating it from the Emiliania huxleyi-Coccolithovirus model of haptophyte–virus interactions. Nonetheless, our findings point to a general conservation of PCD-like activation during virus infection in ecologically diverse haptophytes, with the subtle heterogeneity of cell death biochemical responses possibly exerting differential regulation on phytoplankton abundance and diversity.
  • Article
    Growth and specific P-uptake rates of bacterial and phytoplanktonic communities in the Southeast Pacific (BIOSOPE cruise)
    (Copernicus Publications on behalf of the European Geosciences Union, 2007-11-08) Duhamel, Solange ; Moutin, T. ; Van Wambeke, F. ; Van Mooy, Benjamin A. S. ; Rimmelin, P. ; Raimbault, P. ; Claustre, Hervé
    Predicting heterotrophic bacteria and phytoplankton specific growth rates (μ) is of great scientific interest. Many methods have been developed in order to assess bacterial or phytoplankton μ. One widely used method is to estimate μ from data obtained on biomass or cell abundance and rates of biomass or cell production. According to Kirchman (2002), the most appropriate approach for estimating μ is simply to divide the production rate by the biomass or cell abundance estimate. Most methods using this approach to estimate μ are based on carbon (C) incorporation rates and C biomass measurements. Nevertheless it is also possible to estimate μ using phosphate (P) data. We showed that particulate phosphate (PartP) can be used to estimate biomass and that the P uptake rate to PartP ratio can be employed to assess μ. Contrary to other methods using C, this estimator does not need conversion factors and provides an evaluation of μ for both autotrophic and heterotrophic organisms. We report values of P-based μ in three size fractions (0.2–0.6; 0.6–2 and >2 μm) along a Southeast Pacific transect, over a wide range of P-replete trophic status. P-based μ values were higher in the 0.6–2 μm fraction than in the >2 μm fraction, suggesting that picoplankton-sized cells grew faster than the larger cells, whatever the trophic regime encountered. Picoplankton-sized cells grew significantly faster in the deep chlorophyll maximum layer than in the upper part of the photic zone in the oligotrophic gyre area, suggesting that picoplankton might outcompete >2 μm cells in this particular high-nutrient, low-light environment. P-based μ attributed to free-living bacteria (0.2-0.6 μm) and picoplankton (0.6–2 μm) size-fractions were relatively low (0.11±0.07 d−1 and 0.14±0.04 d−1, respectively) in the Southeast Pacific gyre, suggesting that the microbial community turns over very slowly.
  • Dataset
    Phosphate redox data from cruise AE1409 from R/V Atlantic Explorer AE1409 in the Western Tropical North Atlantic from May 2014 (P Processing by Tricho project)
    (Biological and Chemical Oceanography Data Management Office (BCO-DMO). Contact: bco-dmo-data@whoi.edu, 2021-05-28) Van Mooy, Benjamin A.S. ; Dyhrman, Sonya T.
    Phosphate redox data from cruise AE1409 from R/V Atlantic Explorer AE1409 in the Western Tropical North Atlantic from May 2014 (P Processing by Tricho project). Sampling was conducted aboard the R/V Atlantic Explorer during a cruise in May of 2014. Water samples for whole community analyses were collected from Niskin bottles deployed on a rosette with a CTD. For a complete list of measurements, refer to the full dataset description in the supplemental file 'Dataset_description.pdf'. The most current version of this dataset is available at: https://www.bco-dmo.org/dataset/709104
  • Dataset
    Water column phosphate data from RV/Atlantic Explorer AE1812, May 2018
    (Biological and Chemical Oceanography Data Management Office (BCO-DMO). Contact: bco-dmo-data@whoi.edu, 2019-04-10) Van Mooy, Benjamin A.S. ; Rynearson, Tatiana
    This dataset includes water column phosphate data from RV/Atlantic Explorer AE1812, May 2018. For a complete list of measurements, refer to the full dataset description in the supplemental file 'Dataset_description.pdf'. The most current version of this dataset is available at: https://www.bco-dmo.org/dataset/762824
  • Dataset
    Water column data from R/V Atlantic Explorer cruise AE1409 in the Western Tropical North Atlantic from May 2014 (P Processing by Tricho project)
    (Biological and Chemical Oceanography Data Management Office (BCO-DMO). Contact: bco-dmo-data@whoi.edu, 2021-05-24) Van Mooy, Benjamin A.S. ; Dyhrman, Sonya T.
    Water column data from R/V Atlantic Explorer cruise AE1409 in the Western Tropical North Atlantic from May 2014 (P Processing by Tricho project). For a complete list of measurements, refer to the full dataset description in the supplemental file 'Dataset_description.pdf'. The most current version of this dataset is available at: https://www.bco-dmo.org/dataset/709476
  • Dataset
    Niskin bottle data, including salinity, O2, temperature, conductivity, etc, from R/V Knorr cruise KN207-03 in the North Atlantic (transect from Ponta Delgada, Azores to Reykjavik, Iceland) in 2012 (NA-VICE project)
    (Biological and Chemical Oceanography Data Management Office (BCO-DMO). Contact: bco-dmo-data@whoi.edu, 2019-10-28) Bidle, Kay D ; DiTullio, Giacomo ; Van Mooy, Benjamin A.S. ; Coolen, Marco ; Vardi, Assaf
    Niskin bottle data, including salinity, O2, temperature, conductivity, etc, from R/V Knorr cruise KN207-03 in the North Atlantic (transect from Ponta Delgada, Azores to Reykjavik, Iceland) in 2012 (NA-VICE project). For a complete list of measurements, refer to the full dataset description in the supplemental file 'Dataset_description.pdf'. The most current version of this dataset is available at: https://www.bco-dmo.org/dataset/3902
  • Dataset
    Inorganic nutrients (PO4, SiOH4, NO3, NO2, NH4) from R/V Knorr cruise KN207-01 from the southern tip of Nova Scotia to Bermuda in 2012 (SargassoSeaLipids project)
    (Biological and Chemical Oceanography Data Management Office (BCO-DMO). Contact: bco-dmo-data@whoi.edu, 2019-11-12) Van Mooy, Benjamin A.S.
    Inorganic nutrients (PO4, SiOH4, NO3, NO2, NH4) from R/V Knorr cruise KN207-01 from the southern tip of Nova Scotia to Bermuda in 2012. For a complete list of measurements, refer to the full dataset description in the supplemental file 'Dataset_description.pdf'. The most current version of this dataset is available at: https://www.bco-dmo.org/dataset/3985
  • Article
    Production of two highly abundant 2-methyl-branched fatty acids by blooms of the globally significant marine cyanobacteria Trichodesmium erythraeum
    (American Chemical Society, 2021-08-26) Gosselin, Kelsey M. ; Nelson, Robert K. ; Spivak, Amanda C. ; Sylva, Sean P. ; Van Mooy, Benjamin A. S. ; Aeppli, Christoph ; Sharpless, Charles M. ; O’Neil, Gregory W. ; Arrington, Eleanor C. ; Reddy, Christopher M. ; Valentine, David L.
    The bloom-forming cyanobacteria Trichodesmium contribute up to 30% to the total fixed nitrogen in the global oceans and thereby drive substantial productivity. On an expedition in the Gulf of Mexico, we observed and sampled surface slicks, some of which included dense blooms of Trichodesmium erythraeum. These bloom samples contained abundant and atypical free fatty acids, identified here as 2-methyldecanoic acid and 2-methyldodecanoic acid. The high abundance and unusual branching pattern of these compounds suggest that they may play a specific role in this globally important organism.
  • Article
    Daily changes in phytoplankton lipidomes reveal mechanisms of energy storage in the open ocean
    (Nature Publishing Group, 2018-12-05) Becker, Kevin W. ; Collins, James R. ; Durham, Bryndan P. ; Groussman, Ryan D. ; White, Angelicque E. ; Fredricks, Helen F. ; Ossolinski, Justin E. ; Repeta, Daniel J. ; Carini, Paul ; Armbrust, E. Virginia ; Van Mooy, Benjamin A. S.
    Sunlight is the dominant control on phytoplankton biosynthetic activity, and darkness deprives them of their primary external energy source. Changes in the biochemical composition of phytoplankton communities over diel light cycles and attendant consequences for carbon and energy flux in environments remain poorly elucidated. Here we use lipidomic data from the North Pacific subtropical gyre to show that biosynthesis of energy-rich triacylglycerols (TAGs) by eukaryotic nanophytoplankton during the day and their subsequent consumption at night drives a large and previously uncharacterized daily carbon cycle. Diel oscillations in TAG concentration comprise 23 ± 11% of primary production by eukaryotic nanophytoplankton representing a global flux of about 2.4 Pg C yr−1. Metatranscriptomic analyses of genes required for TAG biosynthesis indicate that haptophytes and dinoflagellates are active members in TAG production. Estimates suggest that these organisms could contain as much as 40% more calories at sunset than at sunrise due to TAG production.
  • Dataset
    Redox data from RV/Atlantic Explorer AE1812 in the northwest Atlantic, May 2018
    (Biological and Chemical Oceanography Data Management Office (BCO-DMO). Contact: bco-dmo-data@whoi.edu, 2019-04-10) Van Mooy, Benjamin A.S. ; Rynearson, Tatiana
    This dataset includes redox data from RV/Atlantic Explorer AE1812 in the northwest Atlantic, May 2018. For a complete list of measurements, refer to the full dataset description in the supplemental file 'Dataset_description.pdf'. The most current version of this dataset is available at: https://www.bco-dmo.org/dataset/762772
  • Dataset
    Trichodesmium data from R/V Atlantic Explorer cruise AE1409 in the Western Tropical North Atlantic from May 2014 (P Processing by Tricho project)
    (Biological and Chemical Oceanography Data Management Office (BCO-DMO). Contact: bco-dmo-data@whoi.edu, 2021-05-24) Van Mooy, Benjamin A.S. ; Dyhrman, Sonya T.
    Trichodesmium data from R/V Atlantic Explorer cruise AE1409 in the Western Tropical North Atlantic from May 2014 (P Processing by Tricho project). For a complete list of measurements, refer to the full dataset description in the supplemental file 'Dataset_description.pdf'. The most current version of this dataset is available at: https://www.bco-dmo.org/dataset/709621
  • Preprint
    An autonomous, in situ light-dark bottle device for determining community respiration and net community production
    ( 2018-03) Collins, James R. ; Fucile, Paul D. ; McDonald, Glenn ; Ossolinski, Justin E. ; Keil, Richard G. ; Valdes, James R. ; Doney, Scott C. ; Van Mooy, Benjamin A. S.
    We describe a new, autonomous, incubation-based instrument that is deployed in situ to determine rates of gross community respiration and net community production in marine and aquatic ecosystems. During deployments at a coastal pier and in the open ocean, the PHORCYS (PHOtosynthesis and Respiration Comparison-Yielding System) captured dissolved oxygen fluxes over hourly timescales that were missed by traditional methods. The instrument uses fluorescence-quenching optodes fitted into separate light and dark chambers; these are opened and closed with piston-like actuators, allowing the instrument to make multiple, independent rate estimates in the course of each deployment. Consistent with other studies in which methods purporting to measure the same metabolic processes have yielded divergent results, respiration rate estimates from the PHORCYS were systematically higher than those calculated for the same waters using a traditional two-point Winkler titration technique. However, PHORCYS estimates of gross respiration agreed generally with separate incubations in bottles fitted with optode sensor spots. An Appendix describes a new method for estimating uncertainties in metabolic rates calculated from continuous dissolved oxygen data. Multiple successful, unattended deployments of the PHORCYS represent a small step toward fully autonomous observations of community metabolism. Yet the persistence of unexplained disagreements among aquatic metabolic rate estimates — such as those we observed between rates calculated with the PHORCYS and two existing, widely-accepted bottle-based methods — suggests that a new community intercalibration effort is warranted to address lingering sources of error in these critical measurements.
  • Preprint
    Resource allocation by the marine cyanobacterium Synechococcus WH8102 in response to different nutrient supply ratios
    ( 2015-05) Mouginot, Céline ; Zimmerman, Amy E. ; Bonachela, Juan A. ; Fredricks, Helen F. ; Allison, Steven D. ; Van Mooy, Benjamin A. S. ; Martiny, Adam C.
    Differences in relative availability of nitrate vs. phosphate may contribute to regional variations in plankton elemental stoichiometry. As a representative of the globally abundant marine Synechococcus, strain WH8102 was grown in 16 chemostats up to 52 days at a fixed growth rate with nitrogen-phosphorus ratios (N:Psupply) of 1 to 50. Initially, the phosphate and nitrate concentrations in the vessel decreased when the respective nutrient was limiting. Cell growth generally stabilized, although several chemostats had apparent oscillations in biomass. We observed extensive plasticity in the elemental content and ratios. N:Pcell matched the supply values between N:Psupply 5 and 20. The C:Pcell followed a similar trend. In contrast, the mean C:Ncell was 6.8 and did not vary as a function of supply ratios. We also observed that induction of alkaline phosphatase, the fraction of P allocated to nucleic acids, and the lipid sulfoquinovosyldiacylglycerol:phosphatidyglycerol ratio inversely correlated with P availability. Our results suggest that this extensive plasticity in the elemental content and ratios depends both on the external nutrient availability as well as past growth history. Thus, our study provides a quantitative understanding of the regulation of the elemental stoichiometry of an abundant ocean phytoplankton lineage.
  • Preprint
    Phosphorus supply drives rapid turnover of membrane phospholipids in the diatom Thalassiosira pseudonana
    ( 2010-11) Martin, Patrick ; Van Mooy, Benjamin A. S. ; Heithoff, Abigail ; Dyhrman, Sonya T.
    In low phosphorus (P) marine systems phytoplankton replace membrane phospholipids with non-phosphorus lipids, but it is not known how rapidly this substitution occurs. Here, when cells of the model diatom Thalassiosira pseudonana were transferred from P-replete medium to P-free medium, the phospholipid content of the cells rapidly declined within 48 h from 45±0.9% to 21±4.5% of total membrane lipids; the difference was made up by non-phosphorus lipids. Conversely, when P-limited T. pseudonana were resupplied with P, cells reduced the percentage of their total membrane lipid contributed by a non-phosphorus lipid from 43±1.5% to 7.3±0.9% within 24 h, while the contribution by phospholipids rose from 2.2±0.1% to 44±3%. This dynamic phospholipid reservoir contained sufficient P to synthesize multiple haploid genomes, suggesting that phospholipid turnover could be an important P source for cells. Field observations of phytoplankton lipid content may thus reflect short-term changes in P supply and cellular physiology, rather than simply long-term adjustment to the environment.
  • Article
    Kinetic constraints on acylated homoserine lactone-based quorum sensing in marine environments
    (Inter-Research, 2009-02-04) Hmelo, Laura R. ; Van Mooy, Benjamin A. S.
    Quorum sensing (QS) via acylated homoserine lactones (AHLs) was discovered in the ocean, yet AHLs are expected to be very short-lived at seawater pH due to rapid abiotic degradation. Quorum quenching, the enzymatic degradation of AHLs, is also likely. To better understand the potential for QS to regulate behaviors of marine bacteria, we investigated the degradation of a variety of AHL molecules in several types of seawater media. We did this by incubating AHLs and tracking their concentration using HPLC/electrospray-ionization mass-spectrometry (HPLC/ESI-MS). AHL concentrations decreased with time, and degradation rate coefficients were calculated by applying a first-order rate law. The rate of abiotic degradation showed strong dependence on acyl chain length and the presence of 3-oxo substitutions on the acyl chain. We found that the rate of abiotic degradation of AHLs in artificial seawater was much slower than that predicted by an oft-cited equation for non-marine media that takes only pH into account. However, AHLs degraded more rapidly in natural seawater than in artificial seawater, an observation we found to be due to quorum quenching enzyme activity. By applying calculated degradation rates in a simple steady-state calculation, we suggest that despite the observed quorum quenching activity, AHLs are likely to be viable signals in organic particles and in other microbial ‘hotpsots’ in marine environments.
  • Article
    Phospholipid synthesis rates in the eastern subtropical South Pacific Ocean
    (Copernicus Publications on behalf of the European Geosciences Union, 2008-02-06) Van Mooy, Benjamin A. S. ; Moutin, T. ; Duhamel, Solange ; Rimmelin, P. ; Van Wambeke, F.
    Membrane lipid molecules are a major component of planktonic organisms and this is particularly true of the microbial picoplankton that dominate the open ocean; with their high surface-area to volume ratios, the synthesis of membrane lipids places a major demand on their overall cell metabolism. Specifically, the synthesis of cell membrane phospholipids creates a demand for the nutrient phosphorus, and we sought to refine our understanding of the role of phospholipids in the upper ocean phosphorus cycle. We measured the rates of phospholipid synthesis in a transect of the eastern subtropical South Pacific from Easter Island to Concepcion, Chile as part of the BIOSOPE program. Our approach combined standard phosphorus radiotracer incubations and lipid extraction methods. We found that phospholipid synthesis rates varied from less than 1 to greater than 200 pmol P L−1 h−1, and that phospholipid synthesis contributed between less than 5% to greater than 22% of the total PO43− incorporation rate. Changes in the percentage that phospholipid synthesis contributed to total PO43− uptake were strongly correlated with the ratio of primary production to bacterial production, which supported our hypothesis that heterotrophic bacteria were the primary agents of phospholipid synthesis. The spatial variation in phospholipid synthesis rates underscored the importance of heterotrophic bacteria in the phosphorus cycle of the eastern subtropical South Pacific, particularly the hyperoligotrophic South Pacific subtropical gyre.
  • Article
    Iron depletion in the deep chlorophyll maximum: mesoscale eddies as natural iron fertilization experiments
    (American Geophysical Union, 2021-11-17) Hawco, Nicholas J. ; Barone, Benedetto ; Church, Matthew J. ; Babcock-Adams, Lydia ; Repeta, Daniel J. ; Wear, Emma K. ; Foreman, Rhea K. ; Björkman, Karin M. ; Bent, Shavonna M. ; Van Mooy, Benjamin A. S. ; Sheyn, Uri ; DeLong, Edward F. ; Acker, Marianne ; Kelly, Rachel L. ; Nelson, Alexa ; Ranieri, John ; Clemente, Tara M. ; Karl, David M. ; John, Seth G.
    In stratified oligotrophic waters, phytoplankton communities forming the deep chlorophyll maximum (DCM) are isolated from atmospheric iron sources above and remineralized iron sources below. Reduced supply leads to a minimum in dissolved iron (dFe) near 100 m, but it is unclear if iron limits growth at the DCM. Here, we propose that natural iron addition events occur regularly with the passage of mesoscale eddies, which alter the supply of dFe and other nutrients relative to the availability of light, and can be used to test for iron limitation at the DCM. This framework is applied to two eddies sampled in the North Pacific Subtropical Gyre. Observations in an anticyclonic eddy center indicated downwelling of iron-rich surface waters, leading to increased dFe at the DCM but no increase in productivity. In contrast, uplift of isopycnals within a cyclonic eddy center increased supply of both nitrate and dFe to the DCM, and led to dominance of picoeukaryotic phytoplankton. Iron addition experiments did not increase productivity in either eddy, but significant enhancement of leucine incorporation in the light was observed in the cyclonic eddy, a potential indicator of iron stress among Prochlorococcus. Rapid cycling of siderophores and low dFe:nitrate uptake ratios also indicate that a portion of the microbial community was stressed by low iron. However, near-complete nitrate drawdown in this eddy, which represents an extreme case in nutrient supply compared to nearby Hawaii Ocean Time-series observations, suggests that recycling of dFe in oligotrophic ecosystems is sufficient to avoid iron limitation in the DCM under typical conditions.