TY - JOUR
T1 - Seasonal copepod lipid pump promotes carbon sequestration in the deep North Atlantic
AU - Huld Jónasdóttir, Sigrún
AU - W. Visser, André
AU - Richardson, Katherine
AU - R. Heath, Michael
PY - 2015/9/29
Y1 - 2015/9/29
N2 - Estimates of carbon flux to the deep oceans are essential for our understanding of global carbon budgets. Sinking of detrital material ("biological pump") is usually thought to be the main biological component of this flux. Here, we identify an additional biological mechanism, the seasonal "lipid pump," which is highly efficient at sequestering carbon into the deep ocean. It involves the vertical transport and metabolism of carbon rich lipids by overwintering zooplankton. We show that one species, the copepod Calanus finmarchicus overwintering in the North Atlantic, sequesters an amount of carbon equivalent to the sinking flux of detrital material. The efficiency of the lipid pump derives from a nearcomplete decoupling between nutrient and carbon cycling-a "lipid shunt," and its direct transport of carbon through the mesopelagic zone to below the permanent thermocline with very little attenuation. Inclusion of the lipid pump almost doubles the previous estimates of deep-ocean carbon sequestration by biological processes in the North Atlantic.
AB - Estimates of carbon flux to the deep oceans are essential for our understanding of global carbon budgets. Sinking of detrital material ("biological pump") is usually thought to be the main biological component of this flux. Here, we identify an additional biological mechanism, the seasonal "lipid pump," which is highly efficient at sequestering carbon into the deep ocean. It involves the vertical transport and metabolism of carbon rich lipids by overwintering zooplankton. We show that one species, the copepod Calanus finmarchicus overwintering in the North Atlantic, sequesters an amount of carbon equivalent to the sinking flux of detrital material. The efficiency of the lipid pump derives from a nearcomplete decoupling between nutrient and carbon cycling-a "lipid shunt," and its direct transport of carbon through the mesopelagic zone to below the permanent thermocline with very little attenuation. Inclusion of the lipid pump almost doubles the previous estimates of deep-ocean carbon sequestration by biological processes in the North Atlantic.
U2 - 10.1073/pnas.1512110112
DO - 10.1073/pnas.1512110112
M3 - Journal article
C2 - 26338976
SN - 0027-8424
VL - 112
SP - 12122
EP - 12126
JO - Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
JF - Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
IS - 39
ER -