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The role of trace metals in controlling structure and function of microbial communities in contemporary oceans
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Speciation of trace metals in the boundary layer surrounding phytoplankton cells: Implications for trace metal bioavailability
Tuesday 8th @ 1030-1050, Conference Room 1
Fengjie Liu* , Department of Earth Science and Engineering, Imperial College London
Qiao-Guo Tan, College of the Environment & Ecology, Xiamen University
Dominik Weiss, Department of Earth Science and Engineering, Imperial College London
Claude Fortin, Institut national de la Recherche scientifique, Centre Eau Terre Environnement,
Quebec, Canada
Peter G. C. Campbell, Institut national de la Recherche scientifique, Centre Eau Terre Environnement,
Quebec, Canada
Presenter Email: fengjieliu2012@gmail.com |
| Over the last 40 years, a general consensus has developed that the best predictor of the biological uptake of waterborne trace metals by phytoplankton is the concentration (or activity) of the free metal ion in the ambient water. However, an important but untested assumption of the current paradigm is that metal speciation in the boundary layer surrounding the phytoplankton cells is identical to ambient bulk water. The measured chemical conditions (e.g., pH and redox status) in this micro-space significantly differ from those in bulk water; in such cases the speciation of trace metals in the boundary layer would be changed, as indicated by equilibrium modelling calculations. Moreover, experiments with both marine and freshwater phytoplankton suggest that trace metal uptake can be markedly influenced by the boundary layer effect. The observation of the boundary layer effect should be of great interest to researchers in the fields of Biological Oceanography, Environmental Sciences and Aquatic Sciences who seek to predict the effects of climate change and ocean acidification on planktonic primary production. |
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