Abstract
Biomarkers had been widely used to reconstruct phytoplankton productivity, and this method was applied in the East China Sea and the Huanghai Sea (Yellow Sea). In this study, Biologic Silicon (BSi) was used as productivity proxy to reconstruct productivity change of phytoplankton during last 200 years. The results show that the BSi contents of surficial sediments were in the range of 0.018%–2.516%, averaging 0.726%, and had a similar variation trend with phytoplankton biomass. The vertical distribution profiles revealed that BSi contents were relatively stable, in accordance with the variations of the contemporary phytoplankton standing crop index. According to the stability analysis of BSi in sediments, BSi was not degradaded for the past two hundred years and remained in sediments steadily. Thus, BSi in sediments had the potential to invert paleoproductivity. To conduct further survey, the linear regression equation between BSi contents and phytoplankton biomass index could be used to calculate the phytoplankton productivity by BSi, so that paleoproductivity may be reconstructed during last 200 years.
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Foundation item: The National Key Basic Research Program of China under contract No. 2006CB400007; the National Natural Science Foundation of China under contract No. 40876088.
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Yang, Q., Song, X., Sun, Y. et al. Application of biologic silicon in modern sedimentary section to reconstruction of phytoplankton changes in the East China Sea and the Huanghai Sea during last 200 years. Acta Oceanol. Sin. 31, 70–77 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13131-012-0193-0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13131-012-0193-0