Biology of life in oceans and brackish waters: plankton, coral reefs, deep-sea, ocean productivity, marine mammals. Covers ~70% of the biosphere by area and is critical to biogeochemical cycles and climate feedbacks.
marine-biology
Plankton
Drifting aquatic organisms, phytoplankton (primary producers, ~50% of global photosynthesis) and zooplankton. Size classes from…
Ocean primary productivity
Photosynthetic carbon fixation ~50 Pg C/y ocean-wide, comparable to terrestrial. Limited mostly by nitrogen (tropics) or iron (HNLC…
Coral reef ecosystem
Scleractinian-coral–Symbiodiniaceae mutualism builds CaCO₃ framework hosting ~25% of marine species on <1% of ocean area. Thermally…
Hydrothermal-vent biology
Chemosynthetic communities around deep-sea vents: Riftia tubeworms with endosymbiotic sulfur-oxidising bacteria, Alvinella 'Pompeii worm'…
Biological carbon pump
Fraction of surface NPP exported as sinking particulate organic carbon to the deep ocean, sequestering CO₂ for centuries. Export-efficiency…
Ocean zonation
Vertical: epipelagic (0–200 m, lit), mesopelagic (200–1000 m, twilight), bathypelagic (1000–4000 m, dark), abyssopelagic (4000–6000 m),…
Marine food web
Phytoplankton → zooplankton → planktivorous fish → piscivorous fish → apex predators (shark, tuna, marine mammals). Trophic transfer…
Marine biodiversity hotspots
Centres of high endemism under threat — Coral Triangle (most fish and coral diversity), Caribbean, Western Indian Ocean, Philippines.…
Martin curve: F(z)=F0·(z/z0)^(−b); particle-flux attenuation power-law
Martin-Knauer curve framework — the canonical empirical power-law for sinking-particle organic-carbon flux attenuation through the ocean's…
Platt P-I: P=P_B_m·B·(1−e^(−αI/P_B_m)); photosynthesis-irradiance saturation
Platt photosynthesis-irradiance (P-I) saturation framework — the canonical nonlinear model of phytoplankton carbon fixation as a function…
Redfield ratios C:N:P = 106:16:1; O₂:P = 138:1 (diagonal stoichiometric matrix)
Redfield stoichiometry framework — the canonical element-ratio balance governing marine plankton elemental composition and water-column…
Martin theorem: F(z)=F0·(z0/z)^b; F(z0)=F0; d(lnF)/d(lnz)=−b; F(z1,z2) anchors
Sympy-exact symbolic witness of the Martin-Knauer POC flux-attenuation canonical identities. Setup: F_0, z_0, z, z_1, z_2, b — all…
Platt theorem: P0, P_max, slope, I_k, Taylor — 5 P-I canonical anchors
Sympy-exact symbolic witness of the Platt P-I saturation canonical identities. Setup: P_B_m, B, α, I_0, I — all positive symbols. Surface…
Redfield theorem: C:N=53/8; N:P=16; C:P=106; O₂:P=138; det(diag)=1696
Sympy-exact symbolic witness of the Redfield stoichiometry canonical ratios and stoichiometric-matrix determinant. Setup: rational…
Marine NPP (Falkowski 1998)
P Falkowski 1998 ocean-primary-productivity ~50 PgC/yr; modern satellite-Chl + Behrenfeld VGPM model.
Coral bleaching (Glynn 1993)
P Glynn 1993 coral-bleaching; modern Hughes 2017+ + 50% Great-Barrier-Reef bleaching 2016-2017 + 2024.
Ocean acidification (Feely 2004)
Feely 2004 ocean-acidification 0.1 pH-decline; modern OA + warming + deoxygenation 'deadly trio'.
Hydrothermal vents (Corliss 1979)
J Corliss 1979 Galapagos vents + chemosynthetic ecosystems; modern black + white smokers + biosphere implications.
Deep biosphere (Edgcomb 2019)
Edgcomb-Bernhard 2019 deep-sea-microbiome; modern subsurface-life 30% of biomass + slow-metabolism extremes.
Redfield (1934)
A Redfield 1934 C:N:P=106:16:1; modern Falkowski-Karl 1999 ecological-stoichiometry + Anderson 1995 P-compensation.
P-I curve (Platt 1980)
T Platt 1980 photosynthesis-irradiance hyperbolic; modern Falkowski-Raven photosystem + ocean-primary-productivity NPP.
Acidification (Caldeira 2003)
K Caldeira-M Wickett 2003 ocean-acidification 0.1pH-100yr; modern coral-bleaching + calcareous-plankton + 2024 saturation state.
Microbial loop (Pomeroy 1974)
L Pomeroy 1974 + Azam 1983 microbial-loop; modern 50% ocean-carbon flow through bacteria-archaea Suttle 2007 viral-shunt.
Hydrothermal vents (Corliss 1979)
J Corliss 1979 Galápagos-vent chemosynthetic ecosystem; modern Lost-City-vent + Tube-worm Hopf-symbiosis + RNA-world hypothesis.
Iron limit (Martin 1990)
J Martin 1990 'iron-fertilization' SOFeX 2002; modern HNLC regions + 2024 marine-CDR ocean-alkalinity-enhancement scaling.
Anderson-Sarmiento extended-Redfield surface-ocean stoichiometry
Anderson-Sarmiento update (Anderson-Sarmiento 1994 *Global Biogeochem Cycles* 8, 65) refines Redfield's classical (C:N:P) = (106:16:1) and…