{"title":"The Invisible Hand of the Periodic Table: How Micronutrients Shape Ecology","authors":"M. Kaspari","doi":"10.1146/annurev-ecolsys-012021-090118","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"Beyond the better-studied carbohydrates and the macronutrients nitrogen and phosphorus, a remaining 20 or so elements are essential for life and have distinct geographical distributions, making them of keen interest to ecologists. Here, I provide a framework for understanding how shortfalls in micronutrients like iodine, copper, and zinc can regulate individual fitness, abundance, and ecosystem function. With a special focus on sodium, I show how simple experiments manipulating biogeochemistry can reveal why many of the variables that ecologists study vary so dramatically from place to place. I conclude with a discussion of how the Anthropocene's changing temperature, precipitation, and atmospheric CO2 levels are contributing to nutrient dilution (decreases in the nutrient quality at the base of food webs). Expected final online publication date for the Annual Review of Ecology, Evolution, and Systematics, Volume 52 is November 2021. Please see http://www.annualreviews.org/page/journal/pubdates for revised estimates.","PeriodicalId":7988,"journal":{"name":"Annual Review of Ecology, Evolution, and Systematics","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":11.2000,"publicationDate":"2021-08-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"34","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Annual Review of Ecology, Evolution, and Systematics","FirstCategoryId":"99","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-ecolsys-012021-090118","RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q1","JCRName":"ECOLOGY","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 34
Abstract
Beyond the better-studied carbohydrates and the macronutrients nitrogen and phosphorus, a remaining 20 or so elements are essential for life and have distinct geographical distributions, making them of keen interest to ecologists. Here, I provide a framework for understanding how shortfalls in micronutrients like iodine, copper, and zinc can regulate individual fitness, abundance, and ecosystem function. With a special focus on sodium, I show how simple experiments manipulating biogeochemistry can reveal why many of the variables that ecologists study vary so dramatically from place to place. I conclude with a discussion of how the Anthropocene's changing temperature, precipitation, and atmospheric CO2 levels are contributing to nutrient dilution (decreases in the nutrient quality at the base of food webs). Expected final online publication date for the Annual Review of Ecology, Evolution, and Systematics, Volume 52 is November 2021. Please see http://www.annualreviews.org/page/journal/pubdates for revised estimates.
期刊介绍:
The Annual Review of Ecology, Evolution, and Systematics is a scholarly publication that has been in circulation since 1970. It focuses on important advancements in the areas of ecology, evolutionary biology, and systematics, with relevance to all forms of life on Earth. The journal features essay reviews that encompass various topics such as phylogeny, speciation, molecular evolution, behavior, evolutionary physiology, population dynamics, ecosystem processes, and applications in invasion biology, conservation, and environmental management. Recently, the current volume of the journal transitioned from a subscription-based model to open access through the Annual Reviews' Subscribe to Open program. Consequently, all articles published in the current volume are now available under a CC BY license.