The world’s oceans are a major sink for atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO₂). The biological carbon pump plays a vital role in the net transfer of CO₂ from the atmosphere to the oceans and then to the sediments, subsequently maintaining atmospheric CO₂ at significantly lower levels than would be the case if it did not exist. The efficiency of the biological pump is a function of phytoplankton physiology and community structure, which are in turn governed by the physical and chemical conditions of the ocean. However, only a few studies have focused on the importance of phytoplankton community structure to the biological pump. Because global change is expected to influence carbon and nutrient availability, temperature and light (via stratification), an improved understanding of how phytoplankton community size structure will respond in the future is required to gain insight into the biological pump and the ability of the ocean to act as a long-term sink for atmospheric CO₂. This review article aims to explore the potential impacts of predicted changes in global temperature and the carbonate system on phytoplankton cell size, species and elemental composition, so as to shed light on the ability of the biological pump to sequester carbon in the future ocean.

Submarine groundwater discharge (SGD) is a global and well-studied geological process by which groundwater of varying salinities enters coastal waters. SGD is known to transport bioactive solutes, including but not limited to nutrients (nitrogen, phosphorous, silica), gases (methane, carbon dioxide), and trace metals (iron, nickel, zinc). In addition, physical changes to the water column, such as changes in temperature and mixing can be caused by SGD. Therefore SGD influences both autotrophic and heterotrophic marine biota across all kingdoms of life. This paper synthesizes the current literature in which the impacts of SGD on marine biota were measured and observed by field, modeling, or laboratory studies. The review is grouped by organismal complexity: bacteria and phytoplankton, macrophytes (macroalgae and marine plants), animals, and ecosystem studies. Directions for future research about the impacts of SGD on marine life, including increasing the number of ecosystem assessment studies and including biological parameters in SGD flux studies, are also discussed.

Significance: Conventional knowledge suggests that coastal phytoplankton are less able to adapt to Fe limitation than open ocean species. Here we show that in contrast to the established paradigm, coastal Synechococcus from the New England shelf is capable of dynamic, multitiered Fe adaptation that allows it to thrive over a broad range of Fe concentrations by partitioning Fe among different uptake and storage proteins. This protein-based response is beneficial in high nitrogen (N) waters with low and variable Fe:N ratios. An oceanic Atlantic Synechococcus isolate lacks this adaptive response, suggesting the small yet significant N cost of retaining Fe response proteins offsets the benefit of Fe adaptability in the southern Sargasso Sea, where N is chronically scarce and Fe:N ratios are high.

Atmospheric deposition is a major source of trace metals in marine surface waters and supplies vital micronutrients to phytoplankton, yet measured aerosol trace metal solubility values are operationally defined and there are relatively few multi-element studies on aerosol-metal solubility in seawater. Here we measure the solubility of aluminum (Al), cadmium (Cd), cobalt (Co), copper (Cu), iron (Fe), manganese (Mn), nickel (Ni), lead (Pb), and zinc (Zn) from natural aerosol samples in seawater over a 7 day period to (1) evaluate the role of extraction time in trace metal dissolution behavior and (2) explore how the individual dissolution patterns could influence biota. Dissolution behavior occurs over a continuum ranging from rapid dissolution, in which the majority of soluble metal dissolved immediately upon seawater exposure (Cd and Co in our samples), to gradual dissolution, where metals dissolved slowly over time (Zn, Mn, Cu, and Al in our samples). Additionally, dissolution affected by interactions with particles was observed in which a decline in soluble metal concentration over time occurred (Fe and Pb in our samples). Natural variability in aerosol chemistry between samples can cause metals to display different dissolution kinetics in different samples, and this was particularly evident for Ni, for which samples showed a broad range of dissolution rates. The elemental molar ratio of metals in the bulk aerosols was 23,189Fe: 22,651Al: 445Mn: 348Zn: 71Cu: 48Ni: 23Pb: 9Co: 1Cd, whereas the seawater soluble molar ratio after 7 days of leaching was 11Fe: 620Al: 205Mn: 240Zn: 20Cu: 14Ni: 9Pb: 2Co: 1Cd. The different kinetics and ratios of aerosol metal dissolution have implications for phytoplankton nutrition, and highlight the need for unified extraction protocols that simulate aerosol metal dissolution in the surface ocean.

The Gulf of Alaska is a highly productive ecosystem that supports fisheries and subsistence harvesting of marine resources. The highly productive summer season begins with a bloom that is dominated by diatoms. Both river and submarine groundwater discharge have been recognized as substantial terrestrial nutrient (nitrate and silicate) sources to the Gulf’s coastal waters. Here, the response of in-situ phytoplankton to groundwater and river water additions was evaluated via a bioassay incubation experiment. Special attention was given to diatom genera, as previous studies have shown that submarine groundwater discharge preferentially induces growth of diatoms. The abundance of Pseudo-nitzschia spp., Chaetoceros spp., and Leptocylindrus spp. increased significantly in groundwater and river water containing treatments. Although groundwater and river water are both rich in nitrate and silicate, groundwater treatments with a higher salinity favored a higher relative abundance of Pseudo-nitzschia spp. Conversely, in the highest river water concentration treatments with lower salinity, relative abundances of Pseudo-nitzschia spp. decreased, while Chaetoceros spp. and Leptocylindrus spp. increased. Total abundances of all three genera increased in the lower salinity treatments. These findings could portend changes in the phytoplankton community composition in the Gulf of Alaska as the climate warms and river discharge increases in the coming decades. Furthermore, the findings support previous assertions that submarine groundwater discharge, with higher salinity than river water, is a preferable source of nutrients to the genus Pseudo-nitzschia.