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Effects of iron limitation on silicon uptake kinetics and elemental stoichiometry in two Southern Ocean diatoms, Eucampia antarctica and Proboscia inermis, and the temperate diatom Thalassiosira pseudonana

Citation

Meyerink, SW and Ellwood, MJ and Maher, WA and Price, GD and Strzepek, RF, Effects of iron limitation on silicon uptake kinetics and elemental stoichiometry in two Southern Ocean diatoms, Eucampia antarctica and Proboscia inermis, and the temperate diatom Thalassiosira pseudonana, Limnology and Oceanography, 62, (6) pp. 2445-2462. ISSN 0024-3590 (2017) [Refereed Article]

Copyright Statement

Copyright 2017 Association for the Sciences of Limnology and Oceanography

DOI: doi:10.1002/lno.10578

Abstract

We investigated the effects of iron (Fe) limitation on the elemental stoichiometry, silicic acid (Si(OH)4) uptake kinetics and cell morphology in two Southern Ocean diatoms Eucampia antarctica and Proboscia inermis and the temperate diatom Thalassiosira pseudonana. An increase in Fe-stress resulted in reductions in specific growth rate and decreases in cellular nitrogen (N) and carbon (C) content relative to cellular biogenic silica (BSi) in both Southern Ocean diatoms and a reduction in growth rate only for T. pseudonana. Both E. antarctica and P. inermis exhibited an increase in cell volume in response to Fe-limitation resulting in a decrease in the cell surface to volume ratio, while normalization of BSi content to cell surface area suggests these diatoms do not become more heavily silicified under Fe limitation. Kinetic Si(OH)4 uptake experiments performed on all three diatom species show that Si(OH)4 uptake is reduced under Fe-limited conditions. For Southern Ocean diatoms, this was manifested through a decrease in the maximum specific uptake rate of Si(OH)4 (VSi-max), along with a decrease in the half-saturation constant for Si(OH)4 uptake (KSi) under Fe stress for E. antarctica. Our data also show that when normalized to cell surface area, VSi-max of the three diatoms species exhibited a linear relationship with cellular growth rate, and was independent of cell morphological variations. Our results suggest that the morphological adaptations of Southern Ocean diatoms in response to Fe-stress have the potential to affect phytoplankton community dynamics and Si(OH)4 : NO3 uptake and export ratios in Southern Ocean waters.

Item Details

Item Type:Refereed Article
Keywords:iron limitation, silicon uptake, elemental stoichiometry, Southern Ocean, diatom
Research Division:Earth Sciences
Research Group:Oceanography
Research Field:Biological oceanography
Objective Division:Environmental Management
Objective Group:Management of Antarctic and Southern Ocean environments
Objective Field:Antarctic and Southern Ocean oceanic processes
UTAS Author:Strzepek, RF (Dr Robert Strzepek)
ID Code:148042
Year Published:2017
Web of Science® Times Cited:11
Deposited By:Australian Antarctic Program Partnership
Deposited On:2021-11-30
Last Modified:2022-08-24
Downloads:0

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