Search research articles

ABOUT JoVE

Overview Leadership Blog JoVE Help Center

AUTHORS

Publishing Process Editorial Board Scope & Policies Peer Review FAQ Submit

LIBRARIANS

Testimonials Subscriptions Access Resources Library Advisory Board FAQ

RESEARCH

JoVE Journal Methods Collections JoVE Encyclopedia of Experiments Archive

EDUCATION

JoVE Core JoVE Business JoVE Science Education JoVE Lab Manual Faculty Resource Center Faculty Site

Terms & Conditions of Use

Related Concept Videos

Deep Sea Microbial Ecology

Deep Sea Microbial Ecology

The deep ocean and its underlying sediments represent vast, largely unexplored microbial habitats that extend far beyond the sunlit photic zone. The photic (euphotic) zone typically spans the upper ~100–200 meters of pelagic waters in the open ocean, but its depth varies geographically and seasonally, where sufficient light supports photosynthetic life. Below this lies the deep sea, spanning roughly 1000–6000 meters (bathypelagic to abyssal zones), with deeper hadal trenches extending beyond...

Marine Microbial Ecology

Marine Microbial Ecology

Marine microbial ecosystems are shaped by distinct physicochemical limits, including high salinity, low nutrient availability, and fluctuating oxygen levels. These conditions favor smaller microbial cell sizes, which maximize their surface-to-volume ratio for efficient nutrient uptake.Microbial activity and community composition are closely linked to biogeochemical cycles, particularly in dynamic environments like estuaries, where halotolerant microbes thrive in response to variable salinity...

What is an Ecosystem?

What is an Ecosystem?

Freshwater Microbial Ecology

Freshwater Microbial Ecology

Freshwater systems such as streams, rivers, and lakes exhibit distinct physical and biological characteristics that influence their microbial communities. These environments are broadly categorized into lotic systems—those with flowing waters like streams and most rivers—and lentic systems, which include still or slow-moving waters such as lakes, ponds, and marshes.In lentic systems, phytoplankton drive primary production, generating autochthonous organic carbon. In contrast, lotic systems...

Primary Production

Primary Production

The total amount of energy acquired by primary producers in an ecosystem is called gross primary production (GPP). However, of this energy, producers use some for metabolic processes, and some is lost as heat, decreasing the amount of energy available to the next trophic level. The remaining usable amount of energy is called the net primary productivity (NPP). In terrestrial ecosystems, NPP is driven by climate, while light penetration and nutrient availability drive NPP in aquatic ecosystems.

The Phosphorus Cycle

The Phosphorus Cycle

Unlike carbon, water, and nitrogen, phosphorus is not present in the atmosphere as a gas. Instead, most phosphorus in the ecosystem exists as compounds, such as phosphate ions (PO43-), found in soil, water, sediment and rocks. Phosphorus is often a limiting nutrient (i.e., in short supply). Consequently, phosphorus is added to most agricultural fertilizers, which can cause environmental problems related to runoff in aquatic ecosystems.

You might also read

Related Articles

Articles linked to this work by shared authors, journal, and citation graph.

Sort by

Same author

Micro-costing for national-scale azithromycin mass drug administration to improve child survival in Niger.

PLOS global public health·2026

Same author

Identifying functional climate refugia of marine megafauna through analysis of functional diversity.

Journal of environmental management·2026

Same author

Spatial inference of ancestor locations suggests northern refugia for canopy-forming kelps in the Pacific Northwest.

The New phytologist·2026

Same author

Evaluating the predictive capacity of coral reef resilience assessments.

Scientific reports·2026

Same author

Predictors of home- vs. facility-based delivery among women living in rural Niger: a cross-sectional survey within the AVENIR cluster-randomised trial.

Journal of global health·2026

Same author

Identifying marine climate refugia to advance climate-smart conservation.

Trends in ecology & evolution·2026

Search research articles

Related Experiment Video

Updated: May 26, 2026

Visualizing Oceanographic Data to Depict Long-term Changes in Phytoplankton

Visualizing Oceanographic Data to Depict Long-term Changes in Phytoplankton

Published on: July 28, 2023

High-frequency dynamics of ocean pH: a multi-ecosystem comparison.

Gretchen E Hofmann¹, Jennifer E Smith, Kenneth S Johnson

¹Department of Ecology, Evolution and Marine Biology, University of California Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara California, United States of America.

|December 30, 2011

Summary

Ocean acidification

More Related Videos

Measuring Photophysiology of Attached Stage of Colacium sp. by a Cuvette-Type Fast Repetition Rate Fluorometer

Measuring Photophysiology of Attached Stage of Colacium sp. by a Cuvette-Type Fast Repetition Rate Fluorometer

Published on: November 12, 2021

Unraveling the Unseen Players in the Ocean - A Field Guide to Water Chemistry and Marine Microbiology

Unraveling the Unseen Players in the Ocean - A Field Guide to Water Chemistry and Marine Microbiology

Published on: November 5, 2014

Related Experiment Videos

Last Updated: May 26, 2026

Visualizing Oceanographic Data to Depict Long-term Changes in Phytoplankton

Visualizing Oceanographic Data to Depict Long-term Changes in Phytoplankton

Published on: July 28, 2023

Measuring Photophysiology of Attached Stage of Colacium sp. by a Cuvette-Type Fast Repetition Rate Fluorometer

Measuring Photophysiology of Attached Stage of Colacium sp. by a Cuvette-Type Fast Repetition Rate Fluorometer

Published on: November 12, 2021

Unraveling the Unseen Players in the Ocean - A Field Guide to Water Chemistry and Marine Microbiology

Unraveling the Unseen Players in the Ocean - A Field Guide to Water Chemistry and Marine Microbiology

Published on: November 5, 2014

Area of Science:

Marine biology
Oceanography
Environmental science

Background:

Ocean acidification (OA) poses a threat to marine life, but its effects are poorly understood due to a lack of species-specific habitat pH data.
Perturbation studies under elevated pCO2 provide insights into individual species' responses but lack ecological realism.

Purpose of the Study:

To present high-resolution, continuous time-series of upper ocean pH data across diverse marine ecosystems.
To characterize the natural variability of ocean pH and its implications for marine organisms' resilience to OA.
To improve the design of future OA experiments by incorporating realistic pH exposure data.

Main Methods:

Collected continuous, high-resolution time-series of upper ocean pH using autonomous sensors.
Deployed sensors across a range of ecosystems, including polar, tropical, open-ocean, coastal, kelp forest, and coral reef environments.
Analyzed pH data to identify site-specific variability patterns (diel, semi-diurnal, stochastic) and quantify pH ranges and standard deviations.

Main Results:

Observed significant month-long pH variability (standard deviations 0.004–0.277, ranges 0.024–1.430 pH units) across ecosystems.
Identified biome-specific pH signatures, revealing that many organisms already experience pH levels predicted for 2100.
Demonstrated that natural pH fluctuations are site-dependent with characteristic temporal patterns.

Conclusions:

The study provides crucial data on natural ocean pH variability, establishing a link between environmental history and organismal resilience.
Understanding these pH signatures is essential for designing more realistic OA experiments and predicting species' tolerance.
This research can inform conservation strategies by identifying vulnerable marine habitats and potential refugia from ocean acidification.