Controls of primary production in two phytoplankton blooms in the Antarctic Circumpolar Current.

The Antarctic Circumpolar Current has a high potential for primary production and carbon sequestration through the biological pump. In the current study, two large-scale blooms observed in 2012 during a cruise with R.V. Polarstern were investigated with respect to phytoplankton standing stocks, primary productivity and nutrient budgets. While net primary productivity was similar in both blooms, chlorophyll a -specific photosynthesis was more efficient in the bloom closer to the island of South Georgia (39 °W, 50 °S) compared to the open ocean bloom further east (12 °W, 51 °S). We did not find evidence for light being the driver of bloom dynamics as chlorophyll standing stocks up to 165 mg m-2 developed despite mixed layers as deep as 90 m. Since the two bloom regions differ in their distance to shelf areas, potential sources of iron vary. Nutrient (nitrate, phosphate, silicate) deficits were similar in both areas despite different bloom ages, but their ratios indicated more pronounced iron limitation at 12 °W compared to 39 °W. While primarily the supply of iron and not the availability of light seemed to control onset and duration of the blooms, higher grazing pressure could have exerted a stronger control toward the declining phase of the blooms.

Dissolved organic matter distribution in the water column and sediment pore water in a highly anthropized coastal lagoon (Mar Menor, Spain): Characteristics, sources, and benthic fluxes.

Coastal lagoons are among the most productive and biodiverse systems in the world and are important sentinels of climate change. The Mar Menor is one of the largest coastal lagoons in the Mediterranean, providing a variety of ecosystem services and resources to the community. However, in recent decades this lagoon has suffered drastic changes and degradation caused by human activities. We analyzed the concentration of dissolved organic carbon (DOC) and the optical properties of dissolved organic matter (DOM) in the water column and sediment pore water during the summer and winter of 2018 and during eighteen months from 2016 to 2018. Overall, we found that the composition of DOM is mainly related to and enhanced by anthropogenic activities and microbial metabolism. DOM enters the lagoon via urban and agricultural runoff, drainage systems, and wastewater treatment plants. Additionally, strong microbial metabolism in sediments leads to differences in DOM composition between water and sediments. In the water column, humic-like components accounted for 71 % of the total DOM, while protein-like compounds were most abundant in sediment pore water. We observed a strong seasonal variability associated with precipitation and the system collapse in 2016 (phytoplankton bloom), which resulted in the death of 80 % of macrophytes. The sediments act as a source of DOM to the overlying water, likely due to relatively high organic matter content and intense microbial activity, primarily through anaerobic pathways. Benthic fluxes of DOC ranged from 5.24 to 33.30 mmol m-2 d-1, being higher in winter than summer 2018 and decreasing from north to south, likely related to lower residence time in the northern basin, groundwater discharge and accumulation of organic matter from the dead meadows. We estimate a net flux of DOC from the Mar Menor toward the Mediterranean Sea of 1.57 × 107 mol yr-1.

Tidally driven N, P, Fe and Mn exchanges in salt marsh sediments of Tagus estuary (SW Europe).

Short-sediment cores and flooding water were collected at 0, 5, 15, 25 and 50 min of tidal inundation in the two sites colonised by pure stands of Spartina maritima (low marsh) and Sarcocornia fruticosa (high marsh) from the Rosário salt marsh (Tagus estuary, SW Europe). Concentrations of NH(4)(+), NO(3)(-) + NO(2)(-) and HPO (4)(2-), Fe and Mn were measured in tidal flooding water and pore water. Flooding water is enriched in nutrients, particularly ammonium due to local discharge of untreated urban effluents. Nevertheless, NH(4)(+) and NO(3)(-) + NO(2)(-) concentrations in flooding waters at t = 5 min (NH(4)(+) = 246 ± 7 µM, NO(3)(-) + NO(2)(-) = 138 ± 1 µM for S. fruticosa and NH(4)(+) = 256 ± 8 µM, NO(3)(-) + NO(2)(-) = 138 ± 1 µM for S. maritima) rose sharply at both vegetated sites. An increase was also registered for HPO(4)(2-) and total dissolved Fe although the subsequent decrease was smoother. Advective transport induced by the two daily pulses of inundation is several orders of magnitude higher than the diffusive fluxes during submerged periods. In addition, solutes are exported from the sediment with the inundation and imported in submerged periods. The exported amount of inorganic nitrogen during tidal inundation (export of 3,200 µmol N m(-2) day(-1)to the water column), is not counterbalanced by the sink of -290 µmol N m(-2) day(-1) occurred during the submerged period.

Improvement of the ultra-trace voltammetric determination of Rh in environmental samples using signal transformation.

Rhodium (Rh) is present at the Earth's surface at ultra-trace concentrations (0.06 ng g(-1)); however, its use in catalytic converters has increased its deposition nearby traffic pressure and therefore the interest in analytical techniques for Rh determination has raised in the recent years. In this study we propose an improvement of Rh measurement by adsorptive voltammetry applying second-derivative signal transformation. The optimization of experimental parameters affecting the voltammetric analysis were carried out using sediment samples; these include the amount of sample digest used, the hydrochloric acid and formaldehyde concentrations, deposition potential and equilibration time. The use of the second derivative transformation provided well-defined peaks due to the minimization of background interferences, leading to a significant decrease in the detection limits. Accordingly, a detection limit of 200 fM Rh in the cell was obtained, which corresponds to 14 pg g(-1) of Rh for 200mg of sediments. The optimized methodology was applied to the analysis of Rh in a sediment core collected close to a motorway bridge from Tagus Estuary (Lisbon, Portugal). Here, Rh concentrations ranged from 0.06 to 0.47 ng g(-1), showing a surface Rh-enrichment linked to traffic, which was consistent with a Pt superficial peak. Reference materials were also analyzed, including road dust (BCR-723) and river sediment (JSD-2), and values obtained were in agreement with certified concentrations and previously values reported in the literature.