The Ecosystems Center, Marine Biological Laboratory, MA, USA.
Ann Rev Mar Sci. 2013;5:525-33. doi: 10.1146/annurev-marine-121211-172331. Epub 2012 Sep 6.
For more than a decade there has been controversy in oceanography regarding the metabolic state of the oligotrophic subtropical gyres of the open ocean. Here we review the background of this controversy, commenting on several issues to set the context for a moderated debate between two groups of scientists. In one of the two companion articles, Williams et al. (2013) take the view that these gyres exhibit a state of net autotrophy-that is, their gross primary production (GPP) exceeds community respiration (R) when averaged over some suitably extensive region and over a long duration. In the other companion article, Duarte et al. (2013) take the opposite view, that these gyres are net heterotrophic, with R exceeding the GPP. This idea-that large, remote areas of the upper ocean could be net heterotrophic-raises a host of fundamental scientific questions about the metabolic processes of photosynthesis and respiration that underlie ocean ecology and global biogeochemistry. The question remains unresolved in part because the net state is finely balanced between large opposing fluxes and most current measurements have large uncertainties. This challenging question must be studied against the background of large, anthropogenically driven changes in ocean ecology and biogeochemistry. Current trends of anthropogenic change make it an urgent problem to solve and also greatly complicate finding that solution.
十多年来，海洋学界对于开阔大洋贫营养亚热带环流区的代谢状态一直存在争议。在这里，我们回顾了这一争议的背景，并就几个问题进行了评论，为两组科学家之间的温和辩论设定了背景。在两篇相关文章中的一篇中，Williams 等人（2013 年）认为这些环流区处于净自养状态，即它们的总初级生产力（GPP）在适当广泛的区域和较长时间内的平均值超过了群落呼吸（R）。在另一篇相关文章中，Duarte 等人（2013 年）则持相反的观点，即这些环流区是净异养的，R 超过了 GPP。这一观点——即海洋上层的大片遥远区域可能是净异养的——引发了一系列关于光合作用和呼吸作用代谢过程的基本科学问题，这些过程是海洋生态学和全球生物地球化学的基础。由于净状态在大的相反通量之间精细平衡，并且大多数当前的测量存在很大的不确定性，因此这个问题仍未得到解决。在海洋生态学和生物地球化学发生大规模人为驱动变化的背景下，必须研究这个具有挑战性的问题。当前人为变化的趋势使得解决这个问题变得紧迫，也大大增加了找到解决方案的难度。
