Biological processes in the oceans play a crucial role in regulating the
fluxes of many important elements such as carbon, nitrogen, sulfur,
oxygen, phosphorus, and silicon. As we come to the end of the 20th
century, oceanographers have increasingly focussed on how these elements
are cycled within the ocean, the interdependencies of these cycles, and
the effect of the cycle on the composition of the earth's atmosphere and
climate. Many techniques and tools have been developed or adapted over
the past decade to help in this effort. These include satellite sensors
of upper ocean phytoplankton distributions, flow cytometry, molecular
biological probes, sophisticated moored and shipboard instrumentation,
and vastly increased numerical modeling capabilities. This volume is the
result of the 37th Brookhaven Symposium in Biology, in which a wide
spectrum of oceanographers, chemists, biologists, and modelers discussed
the progress in understanding the role of primary producers in
biogeochemical cycles. The symposium is dedicated to Dr. Richard W.
Eppley, an intellectual giant in biological oceanography, who inspired a
generation of scientists to delve into problems of understanding
biogeochemical cycles in the sea. We gratefully acknowledge support from
the U.S. Department of Energy, the National Aeronautics and Space
Administration, the National Science Foundation, the National Oceanic
and Atmospheric Administration, the Electric Power Research Institute,
and the Environmental Protection Agency. Special thanks to Claire
Lamberti for her help in producing this volume.