Answer to Question #145254 in Physical Chemistry for Prachi

Question

Iron is required for a variety of metabolic processes but is only present in low concentrations in the open ocean, and in many of these regions evidence suggests it is the most limiting nutrient for primary production. Draw the general pattern that you would expect for an open ocean vertical profile of iron to a depth of 3000 m, include with it a vertical profile for temperature and dissolved oxygen. Exact details are not required, the patterns are what are important, but attempt to include representatively correct maximum values for the Fe conc (in pmol/kg), O2 (in umol/kg), and temperature in degrees C.

Answer 1

In ecology, primary production is the synthesis of organic compounds from atmospheric or aqueous carbon dioxide. It principally occurs through the process of photosynthesis, which uses light as its source of energy, but it also occurs through chemosynthesis, which uses the oxidation or reduction of inorganic chemical compounds as its source of energy. Almost all life on Earth relies directly or indirectly on primary production. The organisms responsible for primary production are known as primary producers or autotrophs, and form the base of the food chain. In terrestrial ecoregions, these are mainly plants, while in aquatic ecoregions algae predominate in this role. Ecologists distinguish primary production as either net or gross, the former accounting for losses to processes such as cellular respiration, the latter not.