Title:
Inorganic polyphosphate in the marine environment: field observations and new analytical techniques
Inorganic polyphosphate in the marine environment: field observations and new analytical techniques
| dc.contributor.advisor | Ingall, Ellery D. | |
| dc.contributor.author | Diaz, Julia M. | en_US |
| dc.contributor.committeeMember | Benitez-Nelson, Claudia | |
| dc.contributor.committeeMember | Brandes, Jay A. | |
| dc.contributor.committeeMember | DiChristina, Thomas | |
| dc.contributor.committeeMember | Taillefert, Martial | |
| dc.contributor.department | Earth and Atmospheric Sciences | en_US |
| dc.date.accessioned | 2012-06-06T16:48:55Z | |
| dc.date.available | 2012-06-06T16:48:55Z | |
| dc.date.issued | 2011-03-31 | en_US |
| dc.description.abstract | Phosphorus (P) is a requirement for biological growth, but this vital nutrient is present at low or limiting concentrations across vast areas of the global surface ocean. Inorganic polyphosphate (poly-P), a linear polymer of at least three orthophosphate units, is one component of the marine P cycle that has been relatively overlooked as compared to other P species, owing in part to a lack of routine analytical techniques that cleanly evaluate it within samples. This thesis demonstrates that inorganic poly-P is a quantitatively significant and dynamic component of the global marine P cycle while also establishing two new techniques for its analysis in biological and environmental samples. In Chapter 2, experiments using the freshwater algae Chlamydomonas sp. and Chlorella sp. illustrate X-ray fluorescence spectromicroscopy as a powerful tool for the sub-micron scale assessment of poly-P composition in organisms. This method enabled the discovery, detailed in Chapter 3, of a mechanism for the long-term sequestration of the vital nutrient P from marine systems via the initial formation of poly-P in surface waters and its eventual transformation into the mineral apatite within sediments. The importance of marine poly-P is furthermore established in Chapter 3 by observations showing that naturally-occurring poly-P represents 7-11% of total P in particles and dissolved matter in Effingham Inlet, a eutrophic fjord located on Vancouver Island, British Columbia. In Chapter 4, a new fluorometric protocol based on the interaction of inorganic poly-P with 4',6-diamidino-2-phenylindole (DAPI) is established as a technique for the direct quantification of poly-P in environmental samples. Chapter 5 presents work from Effingham Inlet utilizing this method that show that inorganic poly-P plays a significant role in the redox-sensitive cycling of P in natural systems. | en_US |
| dc.description.degree | PhD | en_US |
| dc.identifier.uri | http://hdl.handle.net/1853/43673 | |
| dc.publisher | Georgia Institute of Technology | en_US |
| dc.subject | Methods development | en_US |
| dc.subject | Apatite | en_US |
| dc.subject | Effingham Inlet | en_US |
| dc.subject | XANES | en_US |
| dc.subject | Phosphorus | en_US |
| dc.subject | Polyphosphate | en_US |
| dc.subject.lcsh | Phosphate minerals | |
| dc.subject.lcsh | Phosphates | |
| dc.subject.lcsh | Polyphosphates | |
| dc.subject.lcsh | Seawater | |
| dc.subject.lcsh | Seawater Analysis | |
| dc.title | Inorganic polyphosphate in the marine environment: field observations and new analytical techniques | en_US |
| dc.type | Text | |
| dc.type.genre | Dissertation | |
| dspace.entity.type | Publication | |
| local.contributor.advisor | Ingall, Ellery D. | |
| local.contributor.corporatename | School of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences | |
| local.contributor.corporatename | College of Sciences | |
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