Over the last three decades, extensive oceanographic surveys have been conducted to improve the understanding of large-scale circulation and biogeochemical cycles in the marine environment. The World Ocean Circulation Experiment, the Joint Global Ocean Flux and GEOTRACES programs, along with many other studies, demonstrate that microbial communities drive the biogeochemical cycling of the major elements (e.g., C, N, P, S) on our planet. The results of these studies indicate that marine microbes generate and recycle about half of the organic carbon produced on Earth and carry out all nitrogen fixation, ammonia oxidation, denitrification, sulfur reduction/oxidation, and mediate the distribution and speciation of bioactive metals within the oceans. Furthermore, there is now evidence for the existence of biogeochemical oceanic provinces where large-scale chemical and physical features dictate microbial activity and the resulting elemental cycling. Recent data indicate that the oceans are undergoing rapid changes: ocean waters are warming, wind patterns are shifting, and ocean circulation is changing, together shifting turbulent mixing and delivery of nutrients from deep to surface waters. Such dramatic changes underlie an urgent need to identify the processes and quantify fluxes that control the biogeochemical cycles in the ocean. Understanding the factors that dictate province boundaries will allow predictions of how these regions may expand or contract under future ocean conditions. 

Toward an Adaptive Sampling Strategy to Understand the Sensitivity of Biogeochemical Province Boundaries to Climate Change

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