Integrating functional diversity, food web processes, and biogeochemical carbon fluxes into a conceptual approach for modeling the upper ocean in a high-CO2 world

Marine food webs influence climate by channeling carbon below the permanent pycnocline, where it can be sequestered. Because most of the organic matter exported from the euphotic zone is remineralized within the "upper ocean" (i.e., the water column above the depth of sequestration), the resulting CO2 would potentially return to the atmosphere on decadal timescales. Thus ocean-climate models must consider the cycling of carbon within and from the upper ocean down to the depth of sequestration, instead of only to the base of the euphotic zone. Climate-related changes in the upper ocean will influence the diversity and functioning of plankton functional types. In order to predict the interactions between the changing climate and the ocean's biology, relevant models must take into account the roles of functional biodiversity and pelagic ecosystem functioning in determining the biogeochemical fluxes of carbon. We propose the development of a class of models that consider the interactions, in the upper ocean, of functional types of plankton organisms (e.g., phytoplankton, heterotrophic bacteria, microzooplankton, large zooplankton, and microphagous macrozooplankton), food web processes that affect organic matter (e.g., synthesis, transformation, and remineralization), and biogeochemical carbon fluxes (e.g., photosynthesis, calcification, respiration, and deep transfer). Herein we develop a framework for this class of models, and we use it to make preliminary predictions for the upper ocean in a high-CO2 world, without and with iron fertilization. Finally, we suggest a general approach for implementing our proposed class of models

Absorption Efficiencies and Biochemical Fractionation of Assimilated Compounds in the Cold Water Appendicularian Oikopleura Vanhoeffeni

Using Ge-68:C-14 dual-labeling, we investigated the absorption efficiency of diatom carbon for the cold water appendicularian Oikopleura vanhoeffeni. The absorption efficiency of bulk carbon (mean = 67%) was not influenced by body size or ingestion rate. For the first time for a pelagic tunicate, food and feces were fractionated into their major biochemical constituents (i.e., low-molecular-weight compounds, lipid, protein, and polysaccharide), allowing calculation of absorption efficiencies for each fraction. Low-molecular-weight compounds and proteins were preferentially absorbed over lipids and polysaccharides. However, predicted C:N ratios of the fecal pellets of O. vanhoeffeni were in the lower range of C:N ratios reported for zooplankton feces. The results are relevant for modeling biogeochemical cycles because pelagic tunicates contribute greatly to vertical particulate organic carbon flux

Albedos and diameters of three Mars Trojan asteroids

We observed the Mars Trojan asteroids (5261) Eureka and (101429) 1998 VF31 and the candidate Mars Trojan 2001 FR127 at 11.2 and 18.1 microns using Michelle on the Gemini North telescope. We derive diameters of 1.28, 0.78, and <0.52 km, respectively, with corresponding geometric visible albedos of 0.39, 0.32, and >0.14. The albedos for Eureka and 1998 VF31 are consistent with the taxonomic classes and compositions (S(I)/angritic and S(VII)/achrondritic, respectively) and implied histories presented in a companion paper by Rivkin et al. Eureka's surface likely has a relatively high thermal inertia, implying a thin regolith that is consistent with predictions and the small size that we derive.Comment: Icarus, in press. See companion paper 0709.1925 by Rivkin et al; two minor typos fixe

Composition of the L5 Mars Trojans: Neighbors, not Siblings

Mars is the only terrestrial planet known to have Tro jan (co-orbiting) asteroids, with a confirmed population of at least 4 objects. The origin of these objects is not known; while several have orbits that are stable on solar-system timescales, work by Rivkin et al. (2003) showed they have compositions that suggest separate origins from one another. We have obtained infrared (0.8-2.5 micron) spectroscopy of the two largest L5 Mars Tro jans, and confirm and extend the results of Rivkin et al. (2003). We suggest that the differentiated angrite meteorites are good spectral analogs for 5261 Eureka, the largest Mars Trojan. Meteorite analogs for 101429 1998 VF31 are more varied and include primitive achondrites and mesosiderites.Comment: 14 manuscript pages, 1 table, 6 figures. To be published in Icarus. See companion paper 0709.1921 by Trilling et a

Growth responses of Ulva prolifera to inorganic and organic nutrients: Implications for macroalgal blooms in the southern Yellow Sea, China

International audienceThe marine macrophyte Ulva prolifera is the dominant green-tide-forming seaweed in the southern Yellow Sea, China. Here we assessed, in the laboratory, the growth rate and nutrient uptake responses of U. prolifera to different nutrient treatments. The growth rates were enhanced in incubations with added organic and inorganic nitrogen [i.e. nitrate (NO3−), ammonium (NH4+), urea and glycine] and phosphorus [i.e. phosphate (PO43−), adenosine triphosphate (ATP) and glucose 6-phosphate (G-6-P)], relative to the control. The relative growth rates of U. prolifera were higher when enriched with dissolved organic nitrogen (urea and glycine) and phosphorus (ATP and G-6-P) than inorganic nitrogen (NO3− and NH4+) and phosphorus (PO43−). In contrast, the affinity was higher for inorganic than organic nutrients. Field data in the southern Yellow Sea showed significant inverse correlations between macroalgal biomass and dissolved organic nutrients. Our laboratory and field results indicated that organic nutrients such as urea, glycine and ATP, may contribute to the development of macroalgal blooms in the southern Yellow Sea

Comparative cellular analysis of motor cortex in human, marmoset and mouse

The primary motor cortex (M1) is essential for voluntary fine-motor control and is functionally conserved across mammals1. Here, using high-throughput transcriptomic and epigenomic profiling of more than 450,000 single nuclei in humans, marmoset monkeys and mice, we demonstrate a broadly conserved cellular makeup of this region, with similarities that mirror evolutionary distance and are consistent between the transcriptome and epigenome. The core conserved molecular identities of neuronal and non-neuronal cell types allow us to generate a cross-species consensus classification of cell types, and to infer conserved properties of cell types across species. Despite the overall conservation, however, many species-dependent specializations are apparent, including differences in cell-type proportions, gene expression, DNA methylation and chromatin state. Few cell-type marker genes are conserved across species, revealing a short list of candidate genes and regulatory mechanisms that are responsible for conserved features of homologous cell types, such as the GABAergic chandelier cells. This consensus transcriptomic classification allows us to use patch-seq (a combination of whole-cell patch-clamp recordings, RNA sequencing and morphological characterization) to identify corticospinal Betz cells from layer 5 in non-human primates and humans, and to characterize their highly specialized physiology and anatomy. These findings highlight the robust molecular underpinnings of cell-type diversity in M1 across mammals, and point to the genes and regulatory pathways responsible for the functional identity of cell types and their species-specific adaptations

Planktonic food webs: microbial hub approach

Our review consolidates published information on the functioning of the microbial heterotrophic components of pelagic food webs, and extends this into a novel approach: the ‘microbial hub’ (HUB). Crucial to our approach is the identification and quantification of 2 groups of organisms, each with distinct effects on food-web flows and biogeochemical cycles: microbes, which are generally responsible for most of the organic carbon respiration in the euphotic zone, and metazoans, which generally account for less respiration than microbes. The key characteristics of the microbialhub approach are: all heterotrophic microbes are grouped together in the HUB, whereas larger heterotrophs are grouped into a metazoan compartment (METAZ); each food-web flow is expressed as a ratio to community respiration; summary respiration flows through, between, and from the HUB and METAZ are computed using flows from observations or models; both the HUB and METAZ receive organic carbon from several food-web sources, and redirect this carbon towards other foodweb compartments and their own respiration. By using the microbial-hub approach to analyze a wide range of food webs, different zones of the world ocean, and predicted effects of climate change on food-web flows, we conclude that heterotrophic microbes always dominate respiration in the euphotic zone, even when most particulate primary production is grazed by metazoans. Furthermore, climate warming will increase HUB respiration and channeling of primary production toward heterotrophic community respiration and decrease the corresponding METAZ flows. The microbial-hub approach is a significant evolution and extension of the microbial loop and food web, and provides a new, powerful tool for exploring pelagic community metabolism