Resurrecting the Ecological Underpinnings of Ocean Plankton Blooms

2013/09/30 by Michael J. Behrenfeld, Emmanuel Boss · 9 citations
Earth and Planetary Sciences · Environmental Science · #Marine and coastal ecosystems #Microbial Community Ecology and Physiology #Marine Biology and Ecology Research

paper · pdf · doi:10.1146/annurev-marine-052913-021325

openalex publication_date 2013/09/30 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/31

Abstract

Nutrient and light conditions control phytoplankton division rates in the surface ocean and, it is commonly believed, dictate when and where high concentrations, or blooms, of plankton occur. Yet after a century of investigation, rates of phytoplankton biomass accumulation show no correlation with cell division rates. Consequently, factors controlling plankton blooms remain highly controversial. In this review, we endorse the view that blooms are not governed by abiotic factors controlling cell division, but rather reflect subtle ecosystem imbalances instigated by climate forcings or food-web shifts. The annual global procession of ocean plankton blooms thus represents a report on the recent history of predator-prey interactions modulated by physical processes that, almost coincidentally, also control surface nutrient inputs.

Citations

• A mesoscale phytoplankton bloom in the polar Southern Ocean stimulated by iron fertilization
• Shutdown of turbulent convection as a new criterion for the onset of spring phytoplankton blooms
• On Conditions for the Vernal Blooming of Phytoplankton
• Iron deficiency limits phytoplankton growth in the north-east Pacific subarctic
• A Quantitative Study of the Phytoplankton in the Bay of Fundy and the Gulf of Maine (including Observations on Hydrography, Chemistry and Turbidity)
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• Abandoning Sverdrup's Critical Depth Hypothesis on phytoplankton blooms
• Trophic cascades revealed in diverse ecosystems
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• Critical depth and critical turbulence: Two different mechanisms for the development of phytoplankton blooms
• In situ evaluation of the initiation of the North Atlantic phytoplankton bloom
• Annual cycles and spring blooms in phytoplankton: don’t abandon Sverdrup completely

Cited by

• Has Sverdrup's critical depth hypothesis been tested? Mixed layers vs. turbulent layers
• Physiological constrains on Sverdrup's Critical-Depth-Hypothesis: the influences of dark respiration and sinking
• Annual boom–bust cycles of polar phytoplankton biomass revealed by space-based lidar
• Phytoplankton in theTaraOcean
• Exploration of marine phytoplankton: from their historical appreciation to the omics era
• Climate-mediated dance of the plankton
• Industrial-era decline in subarctic Atlantic productivity
• Critical depth [wikipedia]
• Phytoplankton [wikipedia]