Barber¹, Richard T., Robert R. Bidigare², Walker O. Smith, Jr.³, John Marra⁴ and Richard C. Dugdale⁵

¹NSEES, Duke University, 135 Duke Marine Lab Road, Beaufort, NC 28516-9721, Tel: 252-504-7578, Fax: 252-504-7648, E-mail: rbarber@duke.edu, ²SOEST, University of Hawaii, Honolulu, Hawaii, ³VIMS, College of William and Mary, Gloucester Point, Virginia, ⁴LDEO, Columbia University, Palisades, NY and ⁵Romberg Tiburon Center, San Francisco State University, Tiburon, California

Regulation of productivity rates and yields in oceanic ecosystems: A JGOFS overview with emphasis on the equatorial Pacific Ocean

The JGOFS process studies and time series stations in the North Atlantic, equatorial Pacific, Arabian Sea, Ross Sea, Antarctic Polar Frontal Zone (APFZ) and North Pacific provide the basis for a comparative analysis of the regulation of primary productivity rates and yields in a variety of oceanic regimes that differ in temperature, iron and nutrient availability. This overview includes results from IronEx-1 and -2 plus SOFeX, and because more or less identical analytical procedures were used in these JGOFS studies it is possible to carry out a comparative analysis of the changes in phytoplankton community size and taxonomic structure that accompanied changes in the productivity rate or biomass accumulation. This analysis suggests that the processes involved in the initiation of rapid biomass accumulation, or bloom initiation, are remarkably similar in differing oceanic regimes.

Richard T. Barber

Temporarily at the following main campus address:

Duke University Center on Global Change

905 West Main Street, Suite 23D

Durham, NC 27701-2076

Telephone: (919) 956-9930, ext. 255

Fax: (919) 956-9180

Email: rbarber@duke.edu