Trace element stoichiometry of marine plankton & its effect ... - IMBER

Phytoplankton‐specific metal stoichiometry
Taxonomic trends (Quigg et al. 2003 & Ho et al. 2003) (~ 20 fold difference):
• Green superfamily (chl b): high Fe (higher PSI:PSII ratio) , Cu & Zn
• Red superfamily (chl c): high Cd, Co & Mn
• Prokaryotic autotrophs: high Fe, Mo, Co
Geographic trends:
• Coastal phytoplankton higher Fe quotas (~2 ‐ 4 fold) than oceanic
(Sunda and Huntsman 1995, Maldonado and Price 1996)
Environmental trends:
• Metal concentrations:
– Change in [Me’] by 100 X changes quota by 2‐2020 fold
– Trace metal substitutions (ie. Zn, Co & Cd), 2‐5 fold
• Light:
– Increase metal tlquotas under low light high h (10 fold or greater) )(Finkel et al. 2006)
• Macronutrient interactions (N &P): 2‐10 fold;