Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Contributors
- Editors' Preface
- Isotopic-labelling methods for deciphering the function of uncultured micro-organisms
- Biofilms and metal geochemistry: the relevance of micro-organism-induced geochemical transformations
- Minerals, mats, pearls and veils: themes and variations in giant sulfur bacteria
- Soil micro-organisms in Antarctic dry valleys: resource supply and utilization
- New insights into bacterial cell-wall structure and physico-chemistry: implications for interactions with metal ions and minerals
- Horizontal gene transfer of metal homeostasis genes and its role in microbial communities of the deep terrestrial subsurface
- Biosilicification: the role of cyanobacteria in silica sinter deposition
- Metabolic diversity in the microbial world: relevance to exobiology
- Biogeochemical cycling in polar, temperate and tropical coastal zones: similarities and differences
- Fungal roles and function in rock, mineral and soil transformations
- The deep intraterrestrial biosphere
- Iron, nitrogen, phosphorus and zinc cycling and consequences for primary productivity in the oceans
- Mechanisms and environmental impact of microbial metal reduction
- New insights into the physiology and regulation of the anaerobic oxidation of methane
- Biogeochemical roles of fungi in marine and estuarine habitats
- Role of micro-organisms in karstification
- Index
Biogeochemical cycling in polar, temperate and tropical coastal zones: similarities and differences
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 06 July 2010
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Contributors
- Editors' Preface
- Isotopic-labelling methods for deciphering the function of uncultured micro-organisms
- Biofilms and metal geochemistry: the relevance of micro-organism-induced geochemical transformations
- Minerals, mats, pearls and veils: themes and variations in giant sulfur bacteria
- Soil micro-organisms in Antarctic dry valleys: resource supply and utilization
- New insights into bacterial cell-wall structure and physico-chemistry: implications for interactions with metal ions and minerals
- Horizontal gene transfer of metal homeostasis genes and its role in microbial communities of the deep terrestrial subsurface
- Biosilicification: the role of cyanobacteria in silica sinter deposition
- Metabolic diversity in the microbial world: relevance to exobiology
- Biogeochemical cycling in polar, temperate and tropical coastal zones: similarities and differences
- Fungal roles and function in rock, mineral and soil transformations
- The deep intraterrestrial biosphere
- Iron, nitrogen, phosphorus and zinc cycling and consequences for primary productivity in the oceans
- Mechanisms and environmental impact of microbial metal reduction
- New insights into the physiology and regulation of the anaerobic oxidation of methane
- Biogeochemical roles of fungi in marine and estuarine habitats
- Role of micro-organisms in karstification
- Index
Summary
INTRODUCTION
This chapter will consider biogeochemical cycling in the coastal zone. This is defined as that area of estuarine and coastal, relatively shallow water where there is strong benthic-pelagic linkage and exchange between the water column and the underlying sediment. In deeper water this connection becomes increasingly tenuous as the exchange between the euphotic zone and the benthic layer declines. Longhurst et al. (1995) recognized the coastal boundary domain, divided into 22 provinces, as often bounded by a shelf-break front, and included coastal upwelling regions. The coastal zone generally exhibits high rates of primary production compared with the open ocean (Table 1), and there is the greatest impact from inputs from the land to the coastal sea through estuaries. Estuaries and coastal seas are highly heterotrophic systems which are net exporters of CO2 to the atmosphere due to the mineralization and recycling of both autochthonous and allochthonous organic matter (Borges, 2005).
PHYSICO-CHEMICAL DIFFERENCES BETWEEN LATITUDINAL REGIONS
The physical-biological interactions that influence marine phytoplankton production have been reviewed by Daly & Smith (1993). Because of the spherical shape of the Earth, more solar energy falls per unit area of surface in equatorial regions than at the poles (Fig. 1a), and the incidence of light at the equator is vertical to the surface, but oblique at the poles. Furthermore, the distance radiation travels through the atmosphere is longer at the poles, thus reducing the irradiation incident at the poles compared with equatorial regions.
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- Micro-organisms and Earth Systems , pp. 173 - 200Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2005