Iron defecation by sperm whales stimulates carbon export in the Southern Ocean
The iron-limited Southern Ocean plays an important role in regulating atmospheric CO 2 levels. Marine mammal respiration has been proposed to decrease the efficiency of the Southern Ocean biological pump by returning photosynthetically fixed carbon to the atmosphere. Here, we show that by consuming...
Published in: | Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences |
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Online Access: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2010.0863 https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/pdf/10.1098/rspb.2010.0863 https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/full-xml/10.1098/rspb.2010.0863 |
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crroyalsociety:10.1098/rspb.2010.0863 2024-06-02T08:13:17+00:00 Iron defecation by sperm whales stimulates carbon export in the Southern Ocean Lavery, Trish J. Roudnew, Ben Gill, Peter Seymour, Justin Seuront, Laurent Johnson, Genevieve Mitchell, James G. Smetacek, Victor 2010 http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2010.0863 https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/pdf/10.1098/rspb.2010.0863 https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/full-xml/10.1098/rspb.2010.0863 en eng The Royal Society https://royalsociety.org/journals/ethics-policies/data-sharing-mining/ Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences volume 277, issue 1699, page 3527-3531 ISSN 0962-8452 1471-2954 journal-article 2010 crroyalsociety https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2010.0863 2024-05-07T14:16:01Z The iron-limited Southern Ocean plays an important role in regulating atmospheric CO 2 levels. Marine mammal respiration has been proposed to decrease the efficiency of the Southern Ocean biological pump by returning photosynthetically fixed carbon to the atmosphere. Here, we show that by consuming prey at depth and defecating iron-rich liquid faeces into the photic zone, sperm whales ( Physeter macrocephalus ) instead stimulate new primary production and carbon export to the deep ocean. We estimate that Southern Ocean sperm whales defecate 50 tonnes of iron into the photic zone each year. Molar ratios of C export ∶Fe added determined during natural ocean fertilization events are used to estimate the amount of carbon exported to the deep ocean in response to the iron defecated by sperm whales. We find that Southern Ocean sperm whales stimulate the export of 4 × 10 5 tonnes of carbon per year to the deep ocean and respire only 2 × 10 5 tonnes of carbon per year. By enhancing new primary production, the populations of 12 000 sperm whales in the Southern Ocean act as a carbon sink, removing 2 × 10 5 tonnes more carbon from the atmosphere than they add during respiration. The ability of the Southern Ocean to act as a carbon sink may have been diminished by large-scale removal of sperm whales during industrial whaling. Article in Journal/Newspaper Physeter macrocephalus Southern Ocean The Royal Society Southern Ocean Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences 277 1699 3527 3531 |
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crroyalsociety |
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English |
description |
The iron-limited Southern Ocean plays an important role in regulating atmospheric CO 2 levels. Marine mammal respiration has been proposed to decrease the efficiency of the Southern Ocean biological pump by returning photosynthetically fixed carbon to the atmosphere. Here, we show that by consuming prey at depth and defecating iron-rich liquid faeces into the photic zone, sperm whales ( Physeter macrocephalus ) instead stimulate new primary production and carbon export to the deep ocean. We estimate that Southern Ocean sperm whales defecate 50 tonnes of iron into the photic zone each year. Molar ratios of C export ∶Fe added determined during natural ocean fertilization events are used to estimate the amount of carbon exported to the deep ocean in response to the iron defecated by sperm whales. We find that Southern Ocean sperm whales stimulate the export of 4 × 10 5 tonnes of carbon per year to the deep ocean and respire only 2 × 10 5 tonnes of carbon per year. By enhancing new primary production, the populations of 12 000 sperm whales in the Southern Ocean act as a carbon sink, removing 2 × 10 5 tonnes more carbon from the atmosphere than they add during respiration. The ability of the Southern Ocean to act as a carbon sink may have been diminished by large-scale removal of sperm whales during industrial whaling. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Lavery, Trish J. Roudnew, Ben Gill, Peter Seymour, Justin Seuront, Laurent Johnson, Genevieve Mitchell, James G. Smetacek, Victor |
spellingShingle |
Lavery, Trish J. Roudnew, Ben Gill, Peter Seymour, Justin Seuront, Laurent Johnson, Genevieve Mitchell, James G. Smetacek, Victor Iron defecation by sperm whales stimulates carbon export in the Southern Ocean |
author_facet |
Lavery, Trish J. Roudnew, Ben Gill, Peter Seymour, Justin Seuront, Laurent Johnson, Genevieve Mitchell, James G. Smetacek, Victor |
author_sort |
Lavery, Trish J. |
title |
Iron defecation by sperm whales stimulates carbon export in the Southern Ocean |
title_short |
Iron defecation by sperm whales stimulates carbon export in the Southern Ocean |
title_full |
Iron defecation by sperm whales stimulates carbon export in the Southern Ocean |
title_fullStr |
Iron defecation by sperm whales stimulates carbon export in the Southern Ocean |
title_full_unstemmed |
Iron defecation by sperm whales stimulates carbon export in the Southern Ocean |
title_sort |
iron defecation by sperm whales stimulates carbon export in the southern ocean |
publisher |
The Royal Society |
publishDate |
2010 |
url |
http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2010.0863 https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/pdf/10.1098/rspb.2010.0863 https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/full-xml/10.1098/rspb.2010.0863 |
geographic |
Southern Ocean |
geographic_facet |
Southern Ocean |
genre |
Physeter macrocephalus Southern Ocean |
genre_facet |
Physeter macrocephalus Southern Ocean |
op_source |
Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences volume 277, issue 1699, page 3527-3531 ISSN 0962-8452 1471-2954 |
op_rights |
https://royalsociety.org/journals/ethics-policies/data-sharing-mining/ |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2010.0863 |
container_title |
Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences |
container_volume |
277 |
container_issue |
1699 |
container_start_page |
3527 |
op_container_end_page |
3531 |
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1800736721689640960 |