The ASLO journal editors convene this invitation-only special session to recognize authors that published highly cited or highly downloaded articles in 2020-2021 in the ASLO family of journals: Limnology and Oceanography , Limnology and Oceanography: Methods , Limnology and Oceanography: Letters , and Limnology and Oceanography Bulletin. The ASLO journals are a success because authors publish their finest work here. We greatly appreciate the contributions of these authors to our science and to the ASLO community. This session is an opportunity to celebrate the authors and showcase their work, highlighting some of the most influential work in recent years. We invited the lead author or any co-author to present updates to the selected article, describe their evolving research directions, or present a review of the state of the art in their field. Given the broad scope of our journals, these presentations represent the breadth of the aquatic sciences, and some of the most exciting work now underway. Although our selections are based on reader interest, we note that the authors of these articles are representative of ASLO’s broad geographic reach and include several early career researchers.
Lead Organizer: Rita Franco-Santos, CSIRO, Oceans & Atmosphere (rita.franco-santos@outlook.com)
Co-organizers:
David Hambright, University of Oklahoma (lo-editor@aslo.org)
James Cloern, USGS (loletters-eic@aslo.org)
Laura Falkenberg, The Chinese University of Hong Kong (lobulletin-editor@aslo.org)
Paul Kemp, ASLO (lomethods-editor@aslo.org)
Presentations
08:30 AM
Functional trait-based approaches as a common framework for aquatic ecologists: synthesis and recent results (5838)
Primary Presenter: Sakina-Dorothée Ayata, Sorbonne University (sakina-dorothee.ayata@locean.ipsl.fr)
Aquatic ecologists face challenges in identifying the general rules of the functioning of ecosystems. A common framework, including freshwater, marine, benthic, and pelagic ecologists, is needed to bridge communication gaps and foster knowledge sharing. This framework should transcend local specificities and taxonomy in order to provide a common ground and shareable tools to address common scientific challenges. In a recent review paper published in Limnology and Oceanography (Martini et al., 2021), we advocated the use of functional trait-based approaches (FTBAs) for aquatic ecologists and proposed concrete paths to go forward. In this presentation, we will first present an overview of this synthesis work. Then, using a few examples of recent results, including from quantitative imaging, genomics, and machine learning, we will then concretely illustrate how FTBAs can allow aquatic ecologists to tackle some of the scientific challenges identified in the paper.
08:45 AM
THE EFFECT OF STRATIFICATION AND LIGHT CLIMATE ON CHLOROPHYLL A IN LAKES: THE POWER AND CHALLENGES OF TEAM SCIENCE AND FUTURE DIRECTIONS (7345)
Primary Presenter: Bastiaan Ibelings, University of Geneva (daniel.mcginnis@unige.ch)
While increasingly studied, the effects of climate change on lakes are still not widely understood. In fact, recent research suggests that lake response to climate change is dependent on the lake’s physical and biochemical functioning. Simply put, eutrophic lakes will respond differently to oligotrophic lakes. Thus, it is necessary to study numerous lakes to understand the drivers and feedback typically. Recently, we undertook a study “Stratification strength and light climate explain variation in chlorophyll a at the continental scale in the European Multi Lake Survey in a heatwave summer” (Donis and 200+ coauthors, L&O, 2021) investing the effect of nutrients and climate on algal variation. Using a team science approach inspired by GLEON, the EMLS snapshot approach, led by Dr. Evanthia Mantzouki in which 100s of – mainly young – European scientists participated, studied lake phytoplankton in 230 lakes spanning three climactic zones on the European continent. Here, we will provide a summary of the key findings from the study of Donis et al. We will also address the benefits and challenges of team science in addressing this, and similar research topics, studying nutrient and climate effects on lakes. Finally, we will highlight recent findings on the links between climate change and lake trophic status, mixing regimes and future research directions.
09:00 AM
New insights into oxic methane production in aquatic systems: is it relevant? (7469)
Primary Presenter: Hans-Peter Grossart, Leibniz Inst. for Freshwater Ecol. & Inland Fish. (hgrossart@igb-berlin.de)
Biological methane (CH4) production and accumulation in oxygenated waters challenges the long-standing paradigm that microbial CH4 production exclusively occurs under anoxic conditions. Methane production in the oxic, mixed surface layer of aquatic bodies increases CH4 fluxes to the atmosphere, forcing us to rethink the ecology and environmental dynamics of this powerful greenhouse gas. Different autotrophic and heterotrophic microorganisms (bacteria, fungi, Cyanobacteria, eukaryotic algae and even macrophytes) produce CH4 in oxic environments. Known processes include activity of nitrogenases, demethylation of methylphosphonates, methylamines or DMSP, while cyanobacteria and other phytoplankton produce CH4 in oxic waters during photosynthesis - often in combination with stresses via the presence of reactive oxygen species. Yet unknown or recently published processes including purely chemical reactions likely contribute as well. It was suggested that these processes can account for most of the CH4 flux in the oceans and in freshwaters, e.g. reaching up to 85% in stratified, temperate lakes. In addition, CH4 oxidation in oxygen saturated surface waters may have also been underestimated. As both processes are influenced by temperature, light, nutrient availability and aquatic food web dynamics, climate change has the potential to alter CH4 formation and consumption in oxic water layers, with profound consequences for atmospheric CH4 flux and climate feedback. I will provide a short summary of the state of the art and discuss open questions and challenges en route to better integrating oxic CH4 production into the global CH4 budget.
09:15 AM
Ocean aluminum fertilization as a carbon dioxide removal strategy (4938)
Primary Presenter: Linbin Zhou, South China Sea Institute of Oceanology, Chinese Academy of Sciences (zhoulb@scsio.ac.cn)
Global warming driven by the emission of greenhouse gases is threatening all sectors of human society. In addition to reduction of carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions, accelerated CO2 removal (CDR) is also needed to limit global warming to 2oC above the pre-industrial level. The ocean is the largest active carbon pool, and it has a huge potential for removing atmospheric CO2. Here we report the effects of aluminum (Al) on marine carbon sinks and the possibility of Al fertilization as an ocean-based CDR. Our laboratory and field studies show that Al addition generally enhances carbon fixation by marine phytoplankton such as marine diatoms and nitrogen-fixing cyanobacteria, etc., by facilitating the use of dissolved organic phosphorus, iron (Fe), and dinitrogen. Moreover, Al may preserve organic carbon from decay and would facilitate the export of the fixed carbon to ocean depths and its sequestration there. We estimate that addition of Al at oceanic relevant levels would lead to 1 to 3 orders of magnitude increases in diatom POC exported to 1000 m in depth. In addition, increases of Al in the range from 20 to 200 nM in the upper ocean might have occurred due to the high dust deposition over the world ocean in glacial times. The Antarctic ice core records show that the emergence of glacial climates was closely linked to high input of dust Al and Fe over the past 800,000 years. Therefore, we built on the Iron Hypothesis to propose the Iron-Aluminum Hypothesis to highlight the importance of Al in carbon fixation, export, and sequestration in the ocean, and thus climate change. Overall, we propose that ocean Al fertilization could be a potential CDR strategy used alone or together with other CDRs such as ocean Fe fertilization, artificial upwelling, and alkalinity enhancement to alleviate global warming.
09:30 AM
Resolving the scales of plankton ecology and biogeochemical fluxes with the Underwater Vision Profiler (5395)
Primary Presenter: lars stemmann, Sorbonne University (lars.stemmann@sorbonne-universite.fr)
The Underwater Vision Profiler (UVP) has been developed to study the number, size and shape of particles (size > 80µm) and plankton (size > 700µm) in situ. Over the last decade, thousands of profiles have been collected in the world's oceans by the UVP5 to better understand and quantify processes affecting community compositions of large plankton and the biological carbon pump. These data, used together with modeling approaches helped estimate plankton global carbon biomass and particle vertical flux. The most recent UVP (UVP6) sensors have been developed to be mounted on autonomous platforms, mooring and CTD rosettes down to 6000 m depth. Fully inter-calibrated, they record particles and identify plankton and marine snow after recovery or during deployment using an embedded recognition algorithm. A complete software ecosystem is used to pilot the instrument, record the data, and make them available to fulfill the global need of easy data access expressed by scientists, policy makers and the public. Because of the cost reduction of the UVP6, its capability to be mounted on many platforms including autonomous ones, the Ocean is being quickly populated by this sensor (125 sensors have been in operation in the last 2 years). Recent plankton community composition, particle mass, and flux data from three different basins in the Atlantic will be presented. In the next decade, the massive global monitoring of these key biological Essential Oceanographic Variables will significantly advance our understanding of key aquatic processes including the biological carbon pump.
09:45 AM
NEW INSIGHTS ON THE ROLE OF FISHES IN OCEAN CARBON FLUX (5528)
Primary Presenter: Grace Saba, Rutgers University (saba@marine.rutgers.edu)
Fish are the dominant vertebrates in the ocean, yet we know little of fish contribution to carbon flux at regional to global scales. Saba et al. (2021) synthesized existing information on fish carbon flux in coastal and pelagic waters. Our synthesis estimated that fish contribute an average of about 16.1 percent to total carbon flux out of the euphotic zone but with high uncertainty (standard deviation of 13 percent). Using the mean value of model-generated global carbon flux estimates, we estimated an annual average fish-specific flux of 1.5 Pg C per year, similar to rates previously determined globally for zooplankton. We attributed the high variability in fish flux estimations to significant methodological variations and observational gaps and challenges in our present knowledge. We recommended methodological standards and research to decrease uncertainty, increase our confidence in fish carbon flux estimation, and enable identification of controlling factors to account for spatial and temporal variability. This review, along with other recent research, has fostered an emerging research direction in ocean biological carbon sink and has spurred international discussions to address the effect of fishing on potential carbon sequestration, mitigation and policy considerations, and potential repercussions on socioeconomics. Better constraints on this key component of the biological pump will provide a baseline for understanding how ongoing climate change and harvest will affect the role fish play in carbon flux.
EP006A Author Spotlight: Recent High-Impact Articles From the ASLO Journals
Description
Time: 8:30 AM
Date: 5/6/2023
Room: Sala Menorca A