Lagrangian Studies of Marine Production: A Multimethod Assessment of Productivity Relationships in the California Current Ecosystem Upwelling Region
A multimethod process-oriented investigation of diverse productivity measures in the California Current Ecosystem (CCE) Long-Term Ecological Research study region, a complex physical environment, is presented. Seven multiday deployments covering a transition region from high to low productivity were conducted over two field expeditions (spring 2016 and summer 2017). Employing a Lagrangian study design, water parcels were followed over several days, comparing 24-h in situ measurements (14C and 15NO3 -uptake, dilution estimates of phytoplankton growth, and microzooplankton grazing) with high-resolution productivity measurements by fast repetition rate fluorometry (FRRF) and equilibrium inlet mass spectrometry (EIMS), and integrated carbon export measuremnts using sediment traps. Results show the importance of accounting for temporal and fine spatial scale variability when estimating ecosystem production. FRRF and EIMS measurements resolved diel patterns in gross primary and net community production. Diel productivity changes agreed well with comparably more traditional measurements. While differences in productivity metrics calculated over different time intervals were considerable, as those methods rely on different base assumptions, the data can be used to explain ecosystem processes which would otherwise have gone unnoticed. The processes resolved from this method comparison further understanding of temporal and spatial coupling and decoupling of surface productivity and potential carbon burial in a gradient from coastal to offshore ecosystems.
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Related Subject Headings
- 3709 Physical geography and environmental geoscience
- 3708 Oceanography
- 3706 Geophysics
- 0406 Physical Geography and Environmental Geoscience
- 0405 Oceanography
- 0404 Geophysics
Citation
Published In
DOI
EISSN
ISSN
Publication Date
Volume
Issue
Related Subject Headings
- 3709 Physical geography and environmental geoscience
- 3708 Oceanography
- 3706 Geophysics
- 0406 Physical Geography and Environmental Geoscience
- 0405 Oceanography
- 0404 Geophysics