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REVIEW article

Front. Mar. Sci.
Sec. Marine Biogeochemistry
Volume 11 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fmars.2024.1466221

The occurrence and biogeochemical cycling of quaternary, ternary and volatile amines in marine systems

Provisionally accepted
Mark Francis Fitzsimons Mark Francis Fitzsimons 1*Ruth Louise Airs Ruth Louise Airs 2Yin Chen Yin Chen 3
  • 1 University of Plymouth, Plymouth, United Kingdom
  • 2 Plymouth Marine Laboratory, Plymouth, England, United Kingdom
  • 3 University of Birmingham, Birmingham, England, United Kingdom

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    This review provides a critical assessment of knowledge regarding the occurrence and behaviour of volatile, low molecular weight amines, particularly methylamines and quaternary amines, in marine aquatic systems. It provides an up-to-date evaluation of their presence within marine ecosystems, the processes likely to control their flux across the sea-air interface, and analytical techniques associated with their measurement. Interest in the occurrence and cycling of these groups of compounds in seawater has increased within the last 10-15 years, due to their potential role in climate regulation. As such, the need for wider measurements and mechanistic studies to elucidate their role within biological communities and, more widely, the nitrogen cycle and marine ecosystem models, is apparent. Finally, we make recommendations on what research questions are most suitable for future studies in this area.

    Keywords: Amines, marine, biogeochemistry, microbial pathways, anaytical techniques, sea-air exchange

    Received: 17 Jul 2024; Accepted: 06 Nov 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Fitzsimons, Airs and Chen. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Mark Francis Fitzsimons, University of Plymouth, Plymouth, United Kingdom

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.