Trichodesmium And Nitrogen Fixation In The Atlantic : JGOFS Meets Biocomplexity

80W 60W 40W 20W 0 Modeling nutrient dynamics and carbon cycling in the ocean requires interdisciplinary research, combining geochemistry, biology, ecology and physics. All of these disciplines are represented in the U.S. JGOFS Synthesis and Modeling Project (SMP). However it is probably fair to say that the SMP, child of the U.S. JGOFS process studies, has focused primarily on characterizing and modeling biogeochemical cycles and their interactions with physical processes. Less attention has been paid to ecological considerations. Yet ecological principles provide the foundation for most of the biogeochemical modeling efforts that are currently underway in the SMP. Simple ecosystem models with compartments for nutrients, phytoplankton and zooplankton (NPZ) and their more complex successors are widely used in threedimensional biogeochemical models to simulate elemental cycling. These ecosystem models stem from early theoretical and numerical studies carried out by ecologists that were later adapted for application to the ocean. Many of the central concerns of the SMP are essentially ecological. For example, variability over time and space in the export of carbon and other elements to the deep sea is largely determined by variability in phytoplankton species composition Modeling Trichodesmium And Nitrogen Fixation In The Atlantic: JGOFS Meets Biocomplexity