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Remote Sensing of Marine Photosynthesis

  • Chapter
Remote Sensing of Biosphere Functioning

Part of the book series: Ecological Studies ((ECOLSTUD,volume 79))

Abstract

The oceans occupy 70% of the earth’s surface, and estimates of their contribution to global photosynthesis range from 10% to 50% (Perry, 1986) or 20 to 50 × 1015 g C y−1 (McCarthy, 1984; Martin et al., 1987). Photosynthesis in the oceans is of interest as the basis of marine food chains (Ryther, 1969) and for its role in global biogeochemical cycles (e.g., Sundquist, 1985). The nature and dynamics of marine producers differ markedly from those of their terrestrial counterparts. The pool of living plant carbon in the oceans is small (about 0.5 to 5.0 gC m−2) and consists principally of microscopic unicellular organisms that turn over rapidly, on time scales of the order of days (Harris, 1980a). These turnover rates are thought to be controlled primarily by light and nutrient limitation. Because of the low biomass concentrations, estimates of photosynthetic rates have been based primarily on the measurement of rates of incorporation of 14C-labeled isotopes in incubations (Harris, 1984). While there has been a long-standing discussion of the interpretation of these data (Peterson 1980; Harris, 1984), debate has recently intensified with the development of alternative methodologies (e.g., Shulenberger and Reid, 1981; Jenkins and Goldman, 1985). Evidence of the importance of extremely small cells (picoplankton) (Johnson and Sieburth, 1979, 1982; Platt and Li, 1986) and of incubation artifacts such as metal contamination (Fitzwater et al., 1982) has cast further doubt on the large historical set of marine primary production estimates.

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Authors
  1. John S. Parslow
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  2. Graham P. Harris
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Division of Wildlife and Ecology, CSIRO, Midland, WA, 6056, Australia

    R. J. Hobbs

  2. Department of Biological Sciences, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, 94305-5020, USA

    Harold A. Mooney

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Parslow, J.S., Harris, G.P. (1990). Remote Sensing of Marine Photosynthesis. In: Hobbs, R.J., Mooney, H.A. (eds) Remote Sensing of Biosphere Functioning. Ecological Studies, vol 79. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4612-3302-2_13

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4612-3302-2_13

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