Potential increasing dominance of heterotrophy in the global ocean
Autotrophy is largely resource-limited in the modern ocean. Paleo evidence indicates this was not necessarily the case in warmer climates, and modern observations as well as standard metabolic theory suggest continued ocean warming could shift global ecology towards heterotrophy, thereby reducing au...
| Main Authors: | , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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IOP Publishing
2015-01-01
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| Series: | Environmental Research Letters |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/10/7/074009 |
| _version_ | 1827871455050727424 |
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| author | K F Kvale K J Meissner D P Keller |
| author_facet | K F Kvale K J Meissner D P Keller |
| author_sort | K F Kvale |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Autotrophy is largely resource-limited in the modern ocean. Paleo evidence indicates this was not necessarily the case in warmer climates, and modern observations as well as standard metabolic theory suggest continued ocean warming could shift global ecology towards heterotrophy, thereby reducing autotrophic nutrient limitation. Such a shift would entail strong nutrient recycling in the upper ocean and high rates of net primary production (NPP), yet low carbon export to the deep ocean and sediments. We demonstrate transition towards such a state in the early 22nd century as a response to business-as-usual representative concentration pathway forcing (RCP8.5) in an intermediate complexity Earth system model in three configurations; with and without an explicit calcifier phytoplankton class and calcite ballast model. In all models nutrient regeneration in the near-surface becomes an increasingly important driver of primary production. The near-linear relationship between changes in NPP and global sea surface temperature (SST) found over the 21st century becomes exponential above a 2–4 ${\;}^{\circ }{\rm{C}}$ global mean SST change. This transition to a more heterotrophic ocean agrees roughly with metabolic theory. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-12T16:09:27Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-5bc84d9bb4274edea62c7f852e5d2eec |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1748-9326 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-12T16:09:27Z |
| publishDate | 2015-01-01 |
| publisher | IOP Publishing |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Environmental Research Letters |
| spelling | doaj.art-5bc84d9bb4274edea62c7f852e5d2eec2023-08-09T14:11:28ZengIOP PublishingEnvironmental Research Letters1748-93262015-01-0110707400910.1088/1748-9326/10/7/074009Potential increasing dominance of heterotrophy in the global oceanK F Kvale0K J Meissner1D P Keller2Climate Change Research Centre, University of New South Wales , Sydney, NSW, Australia; ARC Centre of Excellence for Climate System Science, Sydney, NSW, AustraliaClimate Change Research Centre, University of New South Wales , Sydney, NSW, Australia; ARC Centre of Excellence for Climate System Science, Sydney, NSW, AustraliaGEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research, West shore campus, Duesternbrooker Way 20, D-24105 Kiel, GermanyAutotrophy is largely resource-limited in the modern ocean. Paleo evidence indicates this was not necessarily the case in warmer climates, and modern observations as well as standard metabolic theory suggest continued ocean warming could shift global ecology towards heterotrophy, thereby reducing autotrophic nutrient limitation. Such a shift would entail strong nutrient recycling in the upper ocean and high rates of net primary production (NPP), yet low carbon export to the deep ocean and sediments. We demonstrate transition towards such a state in the early 22nd century as a response to business-as-usual representative concentration pathway forcing (RCP8.5) in an intermediate complexity Earth system model in three configurations; with and without an explicit calcifier phytoplankton class and calcite ballast model. In all models nutrient regeneration in the near-surface becomes an increasingly important driver of primary production. The near-linear relationship between changes in NPP and global sea surface temperature (SST) found over the 21st century becomes exponential above a 2–4 ${\;}^{\circ }{\rm{C}}$ global mean SST change. This transition to a more heterotrophic ocean agrees roughly with metabolic theory.https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/10/7/074009climate changeheterotrophybiogeochemistryclimate thresholds92.2092.30 |
| spellingShingle | K F Kvale K J Meissner D P Keller Potential increasing dominance of heterotrophy in the global ocean Environmental Research Letters climate change heterotrophy biogeochemistry climate thresholds 92.20 92.30 |
| title | Potential increasing dominance of heterotrophy in the global ocean |
| title_full | Potential increasing dominance of heterotrophy in the global ocean |
| title_fullStr | Potential increasing dominance of heterotrophy in the global ocean |
| title_full_unstemmed | Potential increasing dominance of heterotrophy in the global ocean |
| title_short | Potential increasing dominance of heterotrophy in the global ocean |
| title_sort | potential increasing dominance of heterotrophy in the global ocean |
| topic | climate change heterotrophy biogeochemistry climate thresholds 92.20 92.30 |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/10/7/074009 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT kfkvale potentialincreasingdominanceofheterotrophyintheglobalocean AT kjmeissner potentialincreasingdominanceofheterotrophyintheglobalocean AT dpkeller potentialincreasingdominanceofheterotrophyintheglobalocean |