Phytoplankton Do Not Produce Carbon-Rich Organic Matter in High CO2 Oceans
The ocean is a substantial sink for atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) released as a result of human activities. Over the coming decades the dissolved inorganic C concentration in the surface ocean is predicted to increase, which is expected to have a direct influence on the efficiency of C utilizatio...
Published in: | Geophysical Research Letters |
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Main Authors: | , , , |
Format: | Article in Journal/Newspaper |
Language: | English |
Published: |
AMER GEOPHYSICAL UNION
2018
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Subjects: | |
Online Access: | https://oasis.postech.ac.kr/handle/2014.oak/95892 https://doi.org/10.1029/2017GL075865 |
Summary: | The ocean is a substantial sink for atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) released as a result of human activities. Over the coming decades the dissolved inorganic C concentration in the surface ocean is predicted to increase, which is expected to have a direct influence on the efficiency of C utilization (consumption and production) by phytoplankton during photosynthesis. Here we evaluated the generality of C-rich organic matter production by examining the elemental C:N ratio of organic matter produced under conditions of varying pCO(2). The data used in this analysis were obtained from a series of pelagic in situ pCO(2) perturbation studies that were performed in the diverse ocean regions and involved natural phytoplankton assemblages. The C:N ratio of the resulting particulate and dissolved organic matter did not differ across the range of pCO(2) conditions tested. In particular, the ratio for particulate organic C and N was found to be 6.58 +/- 0.05, close to the theoretical value of 6.6. 1 1 N scie scopus |
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