How do tiny oceanic animals influence atmospheric carbon dioxide levels?
1:00pm - 2:00pm /
Monday 3rd October 2016
/ Venue: Bottom Hunter Lecture Theatre (Room EB4) Nicholson Building
Type: Seminar /
Category: Department
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During this seminar I will show that small oceanic animals, the zooplankton, have an important role in the oceanic carbon cycle that indirectly influences atmospheric CO2. Zooplankton range from microscopic dinoflagellates to much larger and visible salps and jellyfish. Whilst much research is done on this group only a few studies in the past 50 years have really highlighted their importance in biogeochemical cycling on a large scale.
Zooplankton have an integral role in the Biological Carbon Pump. This pump transfers organic carbon produced via photosynthesis in the surface ocean (as particles) to the deep, removing it from re-exchange with the atmosphere. During this transfer a large proportion is remineralised back to an inorganic state and the depth this occurs at in the oceans has been shown to influence atmospheric carbon dioxide levels. This is where zooplankton come in.
I will present observations from the productive Southern Ocean and an oxygen minimum zone in the Equatorial Tropical North Pacific to show the complex interactions zooplankton have with particles, altering the flux of particulate organic carbon to the deep ocean and its remineralisation. Using additional observational data from the North Atlantic I'll compare these three regions with a biogeochemical model output; to further highlight and explain the important role these organisms have in setting the efficiency of the biological carbon pump and thus indirectly influencing atmospheric CO2.
Zooplankton have an integral role in the Biological Carbon Pump. This pump transfers organic carbon produced via photosynthesis in the surface ocean (as particles) to the deep, removing it from re-exchange with the atmosphere. During this transfer a large proportion is remineralised back to an inorganic state and the depth this occurs at in the oceans has been shown to influence atmospheric carbon dioxide levels. This is where zooplankton come in.
I will present observations from the productive Southern Ocean and an oxygen minimum zone in the Equatorial Tropical North Pacific to show the complex interactions zooplankton have with particles, altering the flux of particulate organic carbon to the deep ocean and its remineralisation. Using additional observational data from the North Atlantic I'll compare these three regions with a biogeochemical model output; to further highlight and explain the important role these organisms have in setting the efficiency of the biological carbon pump and thus indirectly influencing atmospheric CO2.