Regulation of Redfield ratios in the deep ocean
Résumé
Biotic regulation of the environment at global scales has been debated for several decades. An example is the similarity between deep‐ocean and phytoplankton mean N:P ratios. N and P cycles are heavily altered by human activities, mainly through an increase in nutrient supply to the upper ocean. As phytoplankton only access nutrients in the upper ocean, it is critical to understand (1) to what extent phytoplankton are able to regulate N and P concentrations as well as their ratio in the deep, inaccessible layer and (2) what mechanisms control the value of the deepwater N:P ratio and the efficiency of its biotic regulation. With a model of N and P cycles in the global ocean separated in two layers, we show that the value of the deepwater N:P ratio is determined by nonfixer's N:P ratio, recycling, and denitrification. Our model predicts that although phytoplankton cannot efficiently regulate deep nutrient pools, they can maintain nearly constant ratios between nutrients because compensatory dynamics between nonfixers and nitrogen fixers allows a control of deepwater chemistry through nutrient recycling. This mechanism could explain the near constancy of the deepwater N:P ratio, in agreement with Redfield's (1934, 1958) classical hypothesis. Surprisingly, N:P ratio of phytoplankton does not affect their ability to regulate the deepwater N:P ratio. Our model suggests that increased water column stratification as a result of global climate change may decrease the stability of the N:P ratio in the deep ocean over long temporal and spatial scales.