Microbial production of recalcitrant dissolved organic matter: long-term carbon storage in the global ocean.
The biological pump is a process whereby CO(2) 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 CO(2), 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.
Jiao
Nianzhi
N
State Key Laboratory of Marine Environmental Sciences, Xiamen University, 361005, China. Jiao@xmu.edu.cn
Herndl
Gerhard J
GJ
Hansell
Dennis A
DA
Benner
Ronald
R
Kattner
Gerhard
G
Wilhelm
Steven W
SW
Kirchman
David L
DL
Weinbauer
Markus G
MG
Luo
Tingwei
T
Chen
Feng
F
Azam
Farooq
F
D000818:Animals; D001105:Archaea / Q000378:metabolism; D001419:Bacteria / Q000378:metabolism; D002245:Carbon Dioxide / Q000378:metabolism*; D009792:Oceans and Seas; D009930:Organic Chemicals / Q000378:metabolism*; D010839:Phytoplankton / Q000378:metabolism; D012623:Seawater / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000382:microbiology*; D014780:Viruses / Q000378:metabolism; D015048:Zooplankton / Q000378:metabolism
D009930:Organic Chemicals; D002245:Carbon Dioxide