Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-g8jcs Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-26T11:02:22.307Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Is Phosphate Part of the Russell Cycle?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 May 2009

Ian Joint ,
Michael B. Jordan  and
Martin R. Carr
Ian Joint
Affiliation:
NERC Centre for Coastal and Marine Sciences, Plymouth Marine Laboratory, The Hoe, Plymouth, PL1 3DH
Michael B. Jordan
Affiliation:
NERC Centre for Coastal and Marine Sciences, Plymouth Marine Laboratory, The Hoe, Plymouth, PL1 3DH
Martin R. Carr
Affiliation:
NERC Centre for Coastal and Marine Sciences, Plymouth Marine Laboratory, The Hoe, Plymouth, PL1 3DH
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

The evidence for variations in winter phosphate concentration as a component of the ‘Russell Cycle’ has been re-examined. The change from high phosphate concentrations prior to 1930 is the largest apparent variation in concentration through the period 1923–1987. However, these values are the result of a retrospective application in 1938, of a salt correction factor of 1–35. The justification for this factor is examined. It is concluded that there is sufficient uncertainty in the accuracy of the pre-1948 measurements of phosphate concentration to preclude their use in long time-series analysis. A statistical analysis of the post-1948 data shows that a simple first order autoregression model provides a perfectly adequate description of the data; the data can be considered as essentially random, with a small component of carry over from one year to the next. The evidence is weak that variations in winter concentrations of phosphate support the Russell Cycle hypothesis.

Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom , Volume 77 , Issue 3 , August 1997 , pp. 625 - 633
Copyright
Copyright © Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom 1997

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Armstrong, F.A.J., 1965. The determination of phosphorus in sea water. Oceanography and Marine Biology. Annual Review, 3, 79–93.Google Scholar
Armstrong, F.A.J. & Harvey, H.W., 1950. The cycle of phosphorus in the waters of the English Channel. Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom, 29, 145–162.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Atkins, W.R.G., 1923. The phosphate content of fresh and salt waters in its relationship to the growth of the algal plankton. Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom, 13, 119–150.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Atkins, W.R.G., 1925. Seasonal changes in the phosphate content of sea water in relation to the growth of the algal plankton during 1923 and 1924. Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom, 13, 700–720.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Atkins, W.R.G., 1926. The phosphate content of sea water in relation to the growth of the algal plankton. Part III. Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom, 14, 447–467.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Atkins, W.R.G., 1928. Seasonal variations in the phosphate and silicate content of sea water during 1926 and 1927 in relation to the phytoplankton crop. Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom, 15, 191–205.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Atkins, W.R.G., 1930. Seasonal variations in the phosphate and silicate content of sea-water in relation to the phytoplankton crop. Part V. November 1927 to April 1929, compared with earlier years from 1923. Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom, 16, 821–852.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Atkins, W.R.G., 1953. Seasonal variations in the phosphate and silicate content of sea water. Part VI. 1948 compared with the 1923–25 period. Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom, 31, 489–492.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chatfield, C., 1980. The analysis of time series: an introduction. London: Chapman & Hall.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cooper, L.H.N., 1933 a. Chemical constituents of biological importance in the English Channel, November, 1930, to January, 1932. Part I. Phosphate, silicate, nitrate, nitrite, ammonia. Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom, 18, 677–728.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cooper, L.H.N., 1933b. Chemical constituents of biological importance in the English Channel. Part III. June-December, 1931. Phosphate, silicate, nitrite, hydrogen ion concentration, with a comparison with wind records. Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom, 19, 55–62.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cooper, L.H.N., 1937. On the ratio of nitrogen to phosphorus in the sea. Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom, 22, 177–182.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cooper, L.H.N., 1938a. Salt error in determinations of phosphate in sea water. Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom, 23, 171–178.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cooper, L.H.N., 1938b. Phosphate in the English Channel, 1933–8, with a comparison with earlier years, 1916 and 1923–32. Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom, 23, 181–195.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cushing, D.H. & Dickson, R.R., 1976. The biological response in the sea to climatic changes. InAdvances in marine biology (ed. F.S., Russell and M., Yonge), pp. 1–122. London: Academic Press.Google Scholar
Harvey, H.W., 1948. The estimation of phosphate and of total phosphorus in sea waters. Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom, 27, 337–359.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Jordan, M.B. & Joint, I., 1997. Seasonal variation in nitrate: phosphate ratios in the English Channel 1923–1987. Estuarine and Coastal Shelf Sciences, in press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Murphy, J. & Riley, J.P., 1958. A single-solution method for the determination of soluble phosphate in sea water. Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom, 37, 9–14.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Murphy, J. & Riley, J.P., 1962. Modified single solution method for the determination of phosphate in natural waters. Analytica Chimica Acta, 27, 31–36.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Redfield, A.C., Smith, H.P. & Ketchum, B., 1937. The cycle of organic phosphorus in the Gulf of Maine. Biological Bulletin. Marine Biological Laboratory, Woods Hole, 73, 421–443.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Russell, F.S., 1936. The seasonal abundance of the pelagic young of teleostean fishes in the Plymouth area. Part III. The year 1935, with a note on the conditions as shown by the occurrence of plankton indicators. Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom, 20, 595–604.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Russell, F.S., Southward, A.J., Boalch, G.T. & Butler, E.I., 1971. Changes in biological conditions in the English Channel off Plymouth during the last half century. Nature, London, 234, 468–470.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Southward, A.J., 1980. The western English Channel - an inconstant ecosystem? Nature, London, 285, 361–366.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Southward, A.J., 1983. Fluctuations in the ecosystem of the western Channel: a summary of studies in progress. Oceanologica Acta, special volume, 187–189.Google Scholar
Southward, A.J., 1995. The importance of long time-series in understanding the variability of natural systems. Helgoländer Meeresuntersuchungen, 49, 329–333.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Strickland, J.D.H. & Parsons, T.R., 1968. A practical handbook of sea-water analysis. Bulletin.Fisheries Research Board of Canada, no. 167, pp. 1–311.Google Scholar