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Frequent blooms of phytoplankton occur in coastal upwelling zones creating hotspots of biological productivity in the ocean. As cold, nutrient-rich water is brought up to sunlit layers from depth, phytoplankton are also transported upwards to seed surface blooms that are often dominated by diatoms. The physiological response of phytoplankton to this process, commonly referred to as shift-up, is characterized by increases in nitrate assimilation and rapid growth rates. To examine the molecular underpinnings behind this phenomenon, metatranscriptomics was applied to a simulated upwelling experiment using natural phytoplankton communities from the California Upwelling Zone. An increase in diatom growth following 5 days of incubation was attributed to the genera Chaetoceros and Pseudo-nitzschia. Here, we show that certain bloom-forming diatoms exhibit a distinct transcriptional response that coordinates shift-up where diatoms exhibited the greatest transcriptional change following upwelling; however, comparison of co-expressed genes exposed overrepresentation of distinct sets within each of the dominant phytoplankton groups. The analysis revealed that diatoms frontload genes involved in nitrogen assimilation likely in order to outcompete other groups for available nitrogen during upwelling events. We speculate that the evolutionary success of diatoms may be due, in part, to this proactive response to frequently encountered changes in their environment., (© 2018 Society for Applied Microbiology and John Wiley & Sons Ltd.)

Presents research which demonstrated that phytoplankton are iron-limited in parts of the California coastal upwelling region. Phytoplankton growth limited by iron availability; Addition of iron to high-nitrate, low-chlorophyll (HNLC) regimes; Silicic acid:nitrate (Si:N) uptake ratios; Diatoms stressed by lack of iron; Si:cell, Si:C and Si:pigment ratios in diatoms; Implications of research.

The physicochemical speciation of dissolved iron (Fe) across natural dissolved Fe gradients in the oceanic and shelf domains of the southeastern Bering Sea was examined in surface and subsurface samples using competitive ligand exchange-adsorptive cathodic stripping voltammetry with the added ligand salicylaldoxime. Two ligand classes were measured in all samples, a stronger L1 ligand class and a weaker L2 ligand class. Conditional stability constants for both ligand classes were comparable between surface and subsurface samples, with mean log Kcond FeL1,Fe0 = 11.5 ± 0.3 and mean log KcondFeL2,Fe0 = 10.3 ± 0.3 in surface samples, and mean log KcondFeL1,Fe0 = 11.4 ± 0.2 with a weaker ligand and mean log KcondFeL2,Fe0 of 10.2 ± 0.2 in subsurface samples. The concentrations of dissolved Fe were strongly correlated with ambient stronger L1 ligand concentrations for all samples with dissolved Fe concentrations greater than 0.2 nmol L-1. In samples with dissolved Fe concentrations less than 0.2 nmol L-1, large and variable excesses of L1 ligand concentrations were measured, coincident with observed Fe stress or limitation on the ambient phytoplankton. These observations suggest that the phytoplankton community is readily able to access dissolved Fe from the FeL1 complex, resulting in excess L1 in these waters. The available speciation data from other sources indicate that a significant correlation exists between dissolved Fe and L1 ligand concentrations in samples with intermediate dissolved Fe, and this is a seemingly ubiquitous feature of dissolved Fe cycling in the marine environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In order to establish the status of metal contamination in surface waters in the coastal ocean off Los Angeles, California, we determined their dissolved and particulate pools and compared them with levels reported in the 1970s prior the implementation of the Clean Water Act. These measurements revealed a significant reduction in particulate toxic metal concentrations in the last 33 years with decreases of ∼100-fold for Pb and ∼400-fold for Cu and Cd. Despite these reductions, the source of particulate metals appears to be primarily anthropogenic as enrichment factors were orders of magnitude above what is considered background crustal levels. Overall, dissolved trace metal concentrations in the Los Angeles coastal waters were remarkably low with values in the same range as those measured in a pristine coastal environment off Mexico's Baja California peninsula. In order to estimate the impact of metal contamination on regional phytoplankton, the internalization rate of trace metals in a locally isolated phytoplankton model organism (Synechococcus sp. CC9311) was also determined showing a rapid internalization (in the order of a few hours) for many trace metals (e.g., Ag, Cd, Cu, Pb) suggesting that those metals could potentially be incorporated into the local food webs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: This study examines the distribution of leachable particulate iron (Fe) in the Columbia River, estuary, and near-field plume. Surface samples were collected during late spring and summer of 2004–2006 as part of four River Influence on Shelf Ecosystems (RISE) cruises. Tidal amplitude and river flow are the primary factors influencing the estuary leachable particulate Fe concentrations, with greater values during high flow and/or spring tides. Near the mouth of the estuary, leachable particulate Fe [defined as the particulate Fe solubilized with a 25% acetic acid (pH 2) leach containing a weak reducing agent to reduce Fe oxyhydroxides and a short heating step to access intracellular Fe] averaged 770 nM during either spring tide or high flow, compared to 320 nM during neap tide, low flow conditions. In the near-field Columbia River plume, elevated leachable particulate Fe concentrations occur during spring tides and/or higher river flow, with resuspended shelf sediment as an additional source to the plume during periods of coastal upwelling and spring tides. Near-field plume concentrations of leachable particulate Fe (at a salinity of 20) averaged 660 nM during either spring tide or high flow, compared to 300 nM during neap tide, low flow conditions. Regardless of tidal amplitude and river flow, leachable particulate Fe concentrations in both the river/estuary and near-field plume are consistently one to two orders of magnitude greater than dissolved Fe concentrations. The Columbia River is an important source of reactive Fe to the productive coastal waters off Oregon and Washington, and leachable particulate Fe is available for solubilization following biological drawdown of the dissolved phase. Elevated leachable Fe concentrations allow coastal waters influenced by the Columbia River plume to remain Fe-replete and support phytoplankton production during the spring and summer seasons. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: A lower trophic level NPZD ecosystem model with explicit iron limitation on nutrient uptake is coupled to a three-dimensional coastal ocean circulation model to investigate the regional ecosystem dynamics of the northwestern coastal Gulf of Alaska (CGOA). Iron limitation is included in the NPZD model by adding governing equations for two micro-nutrient compartments: dissolved iron and phytoplankton-associated iron. The model has separate budgets for nitrate (the limiting macro-nutrient in the standard NPZD model) and for iron, with iron limitation on nitrate uptake being imposed as a function of the local phytoplankton realized Fe:C ratio. While the ecosystem model represents a simple approximation of the complex lower trophic level ecosystem of the northwestern CGOA, simulated chlorophyll concentrations reproduce the main characteristics of the spring bloom, high shelf primary production, and “high-nutrient, low-chlorophyll” (HNLC) environment offshore. Over the 1998–2004 period, model-data correlations based on spatially averaged, monthly mean chlorophyll concentrations are on average 0.7, with values as high as 0.9 and as low as 0.5 for individual years. The model also provides insight on the importance of micro- and macro-nutrient limitation on the shelf and offshore, with the shelfbreak region acting as a transition zone where both nitrate and iron availability significantly impact phytoplankton growth. Overall, the relative simplicity of the ecosystem model provides a useful platform to perform long-term simulations to investigate the seasonal and interannual CGOA ecosystem variability, as well as to conduct sensitivity studies to evaluate the robustness of simulated fields to ecosystem model parameterization and forcing. The ability of the model to differentiate between nitrate-limited, and iron-limited growth conditions, and to identify their spatial and temporal occurrences, is also a first step towards understanding the role of environmental gradients in shaping the complex CGOA phytoplankton community structure. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]