ERROR 1
ERROR 1
ERROR 2
ERROR 2
ERROR 2
ERROR 2
ERROR 2
Password and Confirm password must match.
If you have an ACS member number, please enter it here so we can link this account to your membership. (optional)
ERROR 2
ACS values your privacy. By submitting your information, you are gaining access to C&EN and subscribing to our weekly newsletter. We use the information you provide to make your reading experience better, and we will never sell your data to third party members.
Ocean acidification resulting from increased carbon dioxide levels might decrease the bioavailability of iron for marine phytoplankton, according to a report by Princeton University’s Dalin Shi, François M. M. Morel, and coworkers (Science, DOI: 10.1126/science.1183517). In laboratory studies, the team tested the effect of pH on iron uptake by four species of phytoplankton in the presence of different classes of metal chelators. They found that iron uptake decreased as the pH decreased in the presence of the chelators ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid and desferriferrioxamine B. In contrast, iron uptake didn’t change with pH in the presence of the catechol azotochelin. In analyses using Atlantic Ocean surface water, Shi and coworkers found modest decreases in iron uptake of about 10% by a model diatom when they decreased the pH of seawater from 8.4 to 7.8. Biogeochemist Constant M. G. van den Berg of England’s University of Liverpool finds the results surprising. “We did not know that iron uptake would be less at lower pH, as the calculated concentration of bioavailable inorganic iron actually increases slightly with decreasing pH,” van den Berg says. “This is indeed very important.”
Join the conversation
Contact the reporter
Submit a Letter to the Editor for publication
Engage with us on Twitter