"Particle Fluxes in the Sea:
Death, Decay and Defecation"
Cindy
Lee
Distinguished Professor
Marine Sciences Research Center Particles
in the ocean are composed of a myriad of organic and inorganic materials.
Marine organisms produce much of this material: the plants and
animals in the sea produce organic matter as part of growth and
reproduction; they can also produce inorganic calcium carbonate or
silicate skeletons. Many
marine animals produce fecal pellets, a further major source of marine
particles. Other constituents
of particulate matter include dust and river-borne material transported
from land. When organisms die or are consumed, their remains sink out of
the sunlit surface waters. This
sinking of particulate material from surface to deeper waters is a major
pathway for transporting carbon and other biologically active elements
within the ocean. Material
exported from the surface waters leaves as large, fast-sinking particles,
and in abyssal regions constitutes a source of food for deep-water and
bottom-dwelling organisms. A
variety of biological, physical and chemical processes alter the organic
composition of particles as they sink.
Most of the exported organic matter is remineralized to CO2
on its way to the sea floor, thus playing a major role in the global
carbon cycle. After growing
up in
Arizona
,
Cindy Lee received her PhD in chemical oceanography in 1975 from the
Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the
University
of
California
in
San Diego
and then spent 11 years at the Woods Hole Oceanographic
Institution. She has been on
the faculty of
Stony
Brook
University
’s
Marine
Sciences
Research
Center
since 1986. She has
participated in many national and international research programs and has
sailed all the Seven Seas. Her research is concerned with the distribution and behavior of
biogenic organic compounds in the marine environment, and the role of
these compounds in the global carbon cycle.
Understanding how organic compounds behave requires knowledge of
the biological, geological, and physical processes in the sea. Most biogenic organic compounds are produced in surface waters by
phytoplankton as a result of photosynthesis. These compounds can enter the
marine food chain by acting as food for bacteria or zooplankton. Organic
compounds can also be affected by chemical and physical processes such as
adsorption, photochemical degradation, and transport by currents.
Dr. Lee is interested in organic compounds in all environments,
particularly seawater, surface microlayer and sediments of open ocean and
coastal areas.
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