Cargando…
Micro-Halocline Enabled Nutrient Recycling May Explain Extreme Azolla Event in the Eocene Arctic Ocean
In order to understand the physicochemical mechanisms that could explain the massive growth of Azolla arctica in the Eocene Arctic Ocean, we carried out a laboratory experiment in which we studied the interacting effects of rain and wind on the development of salinity stratification, both in the pre...
Autores principales: | , , , |
---|---|
Formato: | Online Artículo Texto |
Lenguaje: | English |
Publicado: |
Public Library of Science
2012
|
Materias: | |
Acceso en línea: | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3500341/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23166833 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0050159 |
_version_ | 1782250105784500224 |
---|---|
author | van Kempen, Monique M. L. Smolders, Alfons J. P. Lamers, Leon P. M. Roelofs, Jan G. M. |
author_facet | van Kempen, Monique M. L. Smolders, Alfons J. P. Lamers, Leon P. M. Roelofs, Jan G. M. |
author_sort | van Kempen, Monique M. L. |
collection | PubMed |
description | In order to understand the physicochemical mechanisms that could explain the massive growth of Azolla arctica in the Eocene Arctic Ocean, we carried out a laboratory experiment in which we studied the interacting effects of rain and wind on the development of salinity stratification, both in the presence and in the absence of a dense Azolla cover. Additionally, we carried out a mesocosm experiment to get a better understanding of the nutrient cycling within and beneath a dense Azolla cover in both freshwater and brackish water environments. Here we show that Azolla is able to create a windproof, small-scale salinity gradient in brackish waters, which allows for efficient recycling of nutrients. We suggest that this mechanism ensures the maintenance of a large standing biomass in which additional input of nutrients ultimately result in a further expansion of an Azolla cover. As such, it may not only explain the extent of the Azolla event during the Eocene, but also the absence of intact vegetative Azolla remains and the relatively low burial efficiency of organic carbon during this interval. |
format | Online Article Text |
id | pubmed-3500341 |
institution | National Center for Biotechnology Information |
language | English |
publishDate | 2012 |
publisher | Public Library of Science |
record_format | MEDLINE/PubMed |
spelling | pubmed-35003412012-11-19 Micro-Halocline Enabled Nutrient Recycling May Explain Extreme Azolla Event in the Eocene Arctic Ocean van Kempen, Monique M. L. Smolders, Alfons J. P. Lamers, Leon P. M. Roelofs, Jan G. M. PLoS One Research Article In order to understand the physicochemical mechanisms that could explain the massive growth of Azolla arctica in the Eocene Arctic Ocean, we carried out a laboratory experiment in which we studied the interacting effects of rain and wind on the development of salinity stratification, both in the presence and in the absence of a dense Azolla cover. Additionally, we carried out a mesocosm experiment to get a better understanding of the nutrient cycling within and beneath a dense Azolla cover in both freshwater and brackish water environments. Here we show that Azolla is able to create a windproof, small-scale salinity gradient in brackish waters, which allows for efficient recycling of nutrients. We suggest that this mechanism ensures the maintenance of a large standing biomass in which additional input of nutrients ultimately result in a further expansion of an Azolla cover. As such, it may not only explain the extent of the Azolla event during the Eocene, but also the absence of intact vegetative Azolla remains and the relatively low burial efficiency of organic carbon during this interval. Public Library of Science 2012-11-16 /pmc/articles/PMC3500341/ /pubmed/23166833 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0050159 Text en © 2012 van Kempen et al http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are properly credited. |
spellingShingle | Research Article van Kempen, Monique M. L. Smolders, Alfons J. P. Lamers, Leon P. M. Roelofs, Jan G. M. Micro-Halocline Enabled Nutrient Recycling May Explain Extreme Azolla Event in the Eocene Arctic Ocean |
title | Micro-Halocline Enabled Nutrient Recycling May Explain Extreme Azolla Event in the Eocene Arctic Ocean |
title_full | Micro-Halocline Enabled Nutrient Recycling May Explain Extreme Azolla Event in the Eocene Arctic Ocean |
title_fullStr | Micro-Halocline Enabled Nutrient Recycling May Explain Extreme Azolla Event in the Eocene Arctic Ocean |
title_full_unstemmed | Micro-Halocline Enabled Nutrient Recycling May Explain Extreme Azolla Event in the Eocene Arctic Ocean |
title_short | Micro-Halocline Enabled Nutrient Recycling May Explain Extreme Azolla Event in the Eocene Arctic Ocean |
title_sort | micro-halocline enabled nutrient recycling may explain extreme azolla event in the eocene arctic ocean |
topic | Research Article |
url | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3500341/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23166833 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0050159 |
work_keys_str_mv | AT vankempenmoniqueml microhaloclineenablednutrientrecyclingmayexplainextremeazollaeventintheeocenearcticocean AT smoldersalfonsjp microhaloclineenablednutrientrecyclingmayexplainextremeazollaeventintheeocenearcticocean AT lamersleonpm microhaloclineenablednutrientrecyclingmayexplainextremeazollaeventintheeocenearcticocean AT roelofsjangm microhaloclineenablednutrientrecyclingmayexplainextremeazollaeventintheeocenearcticocean |