Researchers from BU, the Marine Biological Laboratory in Woods Hole and UNH contribute to a open source issue of the journal Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment. The special issue which include “perspectives on various ways in which biogeochemical cycles are coupled (1) with each other (through biological or chemical reactions), (2) over large landscapes, (3) over various time scales, and (4) to anthropogenic factors. Contributors to this Special Issue describe key couplings (linkages) among these biogeochemical cycles that control planetary-scale ecosystem dynamics.”
Introduction to coupled biogeochemical cycles
William H Schlesinger1*, Jonathan J Cole1, Adrien C Finzi2, and Elisabeth A Holland3
…. The chemical characteristics of Earth have carried the imprint of biology since the first appearance of life more than 3.5 billion years ago. Movements of about 30 chemical elements essential to life are coupled, so that the behavior of one element can often be used to predict the behavior of other elements – in both the natural and human-perturbed settings of the world. The coupling of biochemical elements stems from basic stoichiometry (the relative quantities of chemical elements in living biomass), the oxidation-reduction or “redox” reactions (in which one substance is oxidized [loses electrons] and another is reduced [gains electrons]) of metabolic activity, and chelation (in which a metal ion binds to an organic compound). Many anthropogenic environmental problems – climate change, eutrophication, acid precipitation, metal pollution – originate from the release of non-stoichiometric and toxic quantities of chemical elements to the environment. Geoengineering proposals as solutions to certain global environmental problems must be consistent with the underlying constraints of coupled biogeochemical cycles. Biogeochemistry has much to offer to policy makers, and biogeochemists must contribute to current deliberations about how to solve environmental problems
William H Schlesinger, Jonathan J Cole, Adrien C Finzi, and Elisabeth A Holland. 2011. Introduction to coupled biogeochemical cycles. Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment 9: 5-8.
Edward Rastetter from the Marine Biological Laboratory in Woods Hole, Massachusetts reports:
• The cycles of elements essential to life on Earth are inextricably linked to one another
• There are several ways of modeling how biogeochemical cycles are coupled
• Different approaches to modeling coupled element cycles result in very different predictions of ecosystem function
• The most suitable approach to modeling coupled element cycles remains an open question, and the answer is most likely context dependent
Edward B Rastetter. 2011. Modeling coupled biogeochemical cycles. Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment 9: 68-73.
Adrien Finzi of the Boston University biology department is lead author on two papers, including one that that concludes:
:
• There is a clear role for the analysis of coupled biogeochemical cycles (CBCs) in addressing the scientific basis for major environmental problems, by both identifying causal relationships and suggesting possible solutions
• Frontiers for research in CBCs include coupling of major element cycles to less studied yet equally important trace element cycles, analyzing CBCs across ecosystem boundaries, and integrating information from experiments into regional- and global-scale models
• Human population growth, as well as geoengineering efforts aimed at mitigating climate change, are likely to accentuate present-day, anthropogenic changes to CBCs
• Researchers will need to rely on available data from existing studies and experiments, develop new or expand existing instrumentation networks, incorporate emerging technologies in the analysis of CBCs, and work together with stakeholders and government agencies to address the environmental challenges posed by human alteration of CBCs, such as climate change and the sustainable management of lands and coastal oceans
• Adrien C Finzi, Jonathan J Cole, Scott C Doney, Elisabeth A Holland, and Robert B Jackson. 2011. Research frontiers in the analysis of coupled biogeochemical cycles. Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment 9: 74-80.