Microbial production of recalcitrant dissolved organic matter: long-term carbon storage in the global ocean

• Published in: Nature Reviews Microbiology
• Main Authors: Jiao, Nianzhi, 焦念志, Herndl, Gerhard J.（Univ Vienna, A-1090 Vienna, Austria）, Hansell, Dennis A.（Univ Miamis, Rosenstiel Sch Marine & Atmospher Sci, Miami, FL USA）, Benner, Ronald（Univ S Carolina, Columbia, SC 29208 USA）, Kattner, Gerhard（Alfred Wegener Inst Polar & Marine Res, D-27570 Bremerhaven, Germany）, Wilhelm, Steven W.（Univ Tennessee, Knoxville, TN 37996 USA）, Kirchman, David L.（Univ Delaware, Sch Marine Sci & Policy, Cannon Lab 222, Lewes, DE 19958 USA）, Weinbauer, Markus G.（CNRS, F-06230 Villefrance Sur Mer, France）, Luo, Tingwei, 骆庭伟, Chen, Feng（Univ Maryland, Inst Marine & Environm Technol, Ctr Environm Sci, Baltimore, MD 21012 USA）, Azam, Farooq（Univ Calif San Diego, Scripps Inst Oceanog, La Jolla, CA 92093 USA）
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: NATURE PUBLISHING GROUP 2010
• Subjects: MAJOR BACTERIAL CONTRIBUTION; SARGASSO SEA; ROSS SEA; COMMUNITY STRUCTURE; MESOPELAGIC ZONE; ATMOSPHERIC CO2; ATLANTIC-OCEAN; MARINE VIRUSES; WATER COLUMN; FATTY-ACIDS; Ross Sea
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.1038/nrmicro2386; http://dspace.xmu.edu.cn/handle/2288/1808

The biological pump is a process whereby CO2 in the upper ocean is fixed by primary producers and transported to the deep ocean as sinking biogenic particles or as dissolved organic matter. The fate of most of this exported material is remineralization to CO2, which accumulates in deep waters until it is eventually ventilated again at the sea surface. However, a proportion of the fixed carbon is not mineralized but is instead stored for millennia as recalcitrant dissolved organic matter. The processes and mechanisms involved in the generation of this large carbon reservoir are poorly understood. Here, we propose the microbial carbon pump as a conceptual framework to address this important, multifaceted biogeochemical problem. National Basic Research Program of China [2007CB815904]; National Natural Science Foundation of China [40632013/40841023]; SOA project [201105021/DY1150243]; Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation US National Science Foundation [648116, 0752972, 0851113, MCB-0453993]; French Science Ministry [ANR07 BLAN 016]; Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research-Earth and Life Sciences