Phosphorus in cold-water corals as a proxy for seawater nutrient chemistry

Paolo Montagna; Malcolm McCulloch; Marco Taviani; Claudio Mazzoli; Begoña Vendrell

doi:10.1126/science.1125781

Phosphorus in cold-water corals as a proxy for seawater nutrient chemistry

Paolo Montagna^*, Malcolm McCulloch, Marco Taviani, Claudio Mazzoli, Begoña Vendrell

^*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

87 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Phosphorus is a key macronutrient being strongly enriched in the deep ocean as a result of continuous export and remineralization of biomass from primary production. We show that phosphorus incorporated within the skeletons of the cosmopolitan cold-water coral Desmophyllum dianthus is directly proportional to the ambient seawater phosphorus concentration and thus may serve as a paleo-oceanographic proxy for variations in ocean productivity as well as changes in the residence times and sources of deep-water masses. The application of this tool to fossil specimens from the Mediterranean reveals phosphorus-enriched bottom waters at the end of the Younger Dryas period.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	1788-1791
Number of pages	4
Journal	Science
Volume	312
Issue number	5781
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1125781
Publication status	Published - 23 Jun 2006

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AU - Montagna, Paolo

AU - McCulloch, Malcolm

AU - Taviani, Marco

AU - Mazzoli, Claudio

AU - Vendrell, Begoña

PY - 2006/6/23

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AB - Phosphorus is a key macronutrient being strongly enriched in the deep ocean as a result of continuous export and remineralization of biomass from primary production. We show that phosphorus incorporated within the skeletons of the cosmopolitan cold-water coral Desmophyllum dianthus is directly proportional to the ambient seawater phosphorus concentration and thus may serve as a paleo-oceanographic proxy for variations in ocean productivity as well as changes in the residence times and sources of deep-water masses. The application of this tool to fossil specimens from the Mediterranean reveals phosphorus-enriched bottom waters at the end of the Younger Dryas period.

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JF - Science

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ER -

Phosphorus in cold-water corals as a proxy for seawater nutrient chemistry

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