BFF-14 Warming microbes point to shrinking of world’s carbon sink: Aussie research

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ZCZC

BFF-14

WARMING-ENVIRONMENT

Warming microbes point to shrinking of world’s carbon sink: Aussie
research

SYDNEY, Nov. 16, 2018 (BSS/XINHUA) – Warmer waters that fuel higher
microbial activity could result in almost 20 percent less carbon stored in
the depths of the Southern Ocean in the next century, with significant impact
on the global environment, according to the latest Australian research.

Sub-Antarctic microbes, which play crucial roles in capturing carbon
through the consumption and decomposition of phytoplankton marine organisms,
are particularly sensitive to temperature changes, according to an Institute
for Marine and Antarctic Studies research facility statement about its study
on Friday.

Any difference in microbial activity amid climate change could in turn see
increasing amounts of carbon released back into the atmosphere instead of
being stored via the organisms in the deep sea for many decades or centuries,
said main project leader Professor Philip Boyd.

“The behavior of the microbial community is one of a number of key
processes that will change with ocean warming, with significant implications
for the biological pump and long-term carbon storage,” said Boyd.

The researchers, using modelling and laboratory-based experiments,
analyzed microbes on clumps of sinking phytoplankton from the Southern Ocean
south of island state Tasmania and measured their respiration at different
temperatures.

Their findings were published in scientific journal Aquatic Microbial
Ecology.

“Our experiment showed that increased microbial respiration alone has the
potential to reduce the amount of carbon sequestered to the deep Southern
Ocean by almost 20 percent, with other processes likely to add to that
figure,” said Boyd.

The findings highlighted the potential importance of understanding how the
Southern Ocean carbon cycle may alter in the coming decades, he said.

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