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The Ocean Engine That Regulates Earth's Climate · How To Protect The Ocean

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  Every year the ocean removes billions of
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  tons of carbon
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  dioxide from the atmosphere
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  Most people assume that this happens
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  because of whales, mangroves or seagrass
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  But the biggest carbon capture system on
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  Earth is microscopic.
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  It is powered by microbes
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  Invisible organisms drifting in the water
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  column quietly
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  regulate the Earth's climate
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  This is the how to protect the ocean your
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  weekly ocean news update if you care
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  about staying informed on the ocean
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  Every weekday hit that follow button
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  right now. So you
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  don't miss tomorrow's story
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  Alright, let's just talk about it for a
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  second ocean microbes help regulate the
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  global climate by capturing carbon and
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  Transporting it into the deep ocean. This
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  process is known as the biological carbon
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  pump without this system
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  Scientists estimate atmospheric co2
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  concentrations would be roughly 50%
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  higher than they are today
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  Let's think about that 50% higher than
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  they are today. The ocean does not simply
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  absorb carbon like a sponge
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  life in the ocean actively moves carbon
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  from the atmosphere to the deep sea and
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  Microbes drive that system. So the key
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  question here is how do organisms
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  Smaller than a grain of sand help
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  regulate the entire planet's
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  climate. Here's the problem
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  Let's be honest climate change is
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  accelerating human activities have
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  dramatically increased
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  atmospheric carbon dioxide
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  Anybody tells you differently is
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  absolutely wrong today co2
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  concentrations have exceeded
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  420 parts per million the highest levels
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  seen in the last three million years
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  The ocean helps buffer the
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  planet from this rapid increase
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  Scientists estimate that the ocean
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  absorbs about 25 to 30 percent of the co2
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  humans emit each year
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  This buffer effect slows climate change
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  without the ocean absorbing carbon
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  Earth's climate would be warming
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  significantly faster than it is already
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  But the ocean doesn't
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  simply absorb carbon passively
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  it's not just sitting there as carbon
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  dioxide floats above the water and just
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  kind of absorbs it a
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  large portion of the carbon is
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  moved into deeper waters through
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  biological processes driven by microbes
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  to hear some of the
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  science of people research on the
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  Biological carbon pump. It's one of the
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  most important processes
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  regulating there's climate
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  So there's a lot of research on it step
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  one begins with phytoplankton
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  This microscopic algae live near the
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  ocean surface where sunlight penetrates
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  the water like plants on land
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  And phytoplankton use photosynthesis to
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  convert carbon
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  dioxide into organic carbon
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  Scientists estimate that marine
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  phytoplankton produce roughly half of the
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  oxygen of the earth and fix
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  about 50 gigatons of carbon
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  annually comparable to all
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  terrestrial plants combined once
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  phytoplankton converts carbon into
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  biomass the carbon begins
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  moving through the food web
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  zooplankton grays on
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  phytoplankton fish consume zooplankton
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  But the key step in the carbon pump
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  happens when organic matter begins
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  sinking this happens
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  through several pathways one
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  We call marine snow
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  particles of dead phytoplankton
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  fecal pellets from zooplankton and
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  fragments of organic material clumped
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  together into drifting
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  aggregates known as marine snow
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  These particles slowly sink through the
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  water column some sink hundreds of
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  thousands of meters into the deep
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  Microbes colonize these particles as they
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  sink they break down the organic material
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  Transforming it chemically some carbon is
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  recycled back into the surface waters
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  But a fraction continues sinking deeper
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  when carbon reaches waters below a
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  thousand meters it can remain isolated
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  From the atmosphere for
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  hundreds of thousands of years
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  Globally scientists estimate the
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  biological carbon pump transfers about 10
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  gigatons of carbon per year from the
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  surface waters towards
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  the deep of the ocean
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  That is a massive climate regulating
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  process driven largely
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  by microscopic organisms
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  Let's talk about cyanobacteria amongst
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  the most important carbon capturing
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  microbes in the ocean are cyanobacteria
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  These organisms are photosynthetic
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  bacteria that evolved more
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  than 2.5 billion years ago
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  And we're responsible for producing much
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  of the oxygen that transformed the
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  Earth's early atmosphere
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  Two of the most abundant species in the
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  ocean are chlorochlorococcus and
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  Sinocorococcus sorry about the
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  pronunciation of trouble reading these
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  chlorochlorococcus is
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  especially remarkable
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  It is believed to be the most abundant
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  photosynthetic organism on Earth
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  scientists estimate
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  there may be around three
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  Octillion cells globally
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  meaning a three followed by
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  27 zeros in some tropical ocean regions a
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  single millimeter of seawater may contain
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  a hundred thousand or more
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  chlorochlorococcus cells these organisms
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  capture carbon dioxide using sunlight and
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  Convert it into organic carbon although
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  each cell is tiny their collective
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  activity is enormous together
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  Plurico caucus and sinoco caucus
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  contribute a significant
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  portion of photosynthesis
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  They form a foundation of many marine
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  food webs supporting everything from
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  zooplankton to large fish in
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  many parts of the open ocean
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  Nutrients are scarce these microbes
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  dominate primary production their
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  activity is a major component of the
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  biological carbon pump
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  Climate change has the potential to
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  disrupt the microbial systems that
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  regulate carbon in the ocean
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  One major risk is ocean warming warmer
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  water tends to increase stratification
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  meaning the ocean becomes more layered
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  surface waters warm and become less dense
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  reducing mixing with
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  colder nutrient rich water
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  Phytoplankton rely on nutrients such as
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  nitrogen phosphorus and iron that often
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  come from deeper waters
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  When mixing weakens fewer nutrients reach
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  the surface. This can reduce
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  phytoplankton productivity
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  Another risk is change in plankton
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  community composition climate-driven
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  warming often favors smaller
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  phytoplankton species including tiny
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  Pecoplankton smaller cells tend to sink
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  more slowly than
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  larger plankton like diatoms
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  Diatoms have silica cells that make them
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  heavier and they sink a
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  lot quicker when they die
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  If the ocean shifts towards smaller
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  plankton communities less carbon may be
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  exported to deeper waters
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  This could weaken the
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  biological carbon pump
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  A large globe analysis found that warming
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  oceans may reduce the efficiency of
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  carbon export in some regions
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  Which means that more carbon will remain
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  near the surface and
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  eventually return to the atmosphere
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  So what does success look like when we're
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  talking about protecting
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  the biological carbon pump?
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  Well, this will require protecting the
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  conditions that allow microbial
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  ecosystems to function one
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  major factor is nutrient balance
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  So excess nutrient pollution from
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  agriculture can trigger harmful algal
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  blooms that disrupt marine ecosystems
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  So think about everything that's
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  happening in florida when florida the
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  state of florida moved to best practices
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  in terms of regulating nutrients
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  That come out of big sugar and it went
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  into lake oak ochibi. I
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  think that's how you pronounce it
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  I always forget how you pronounce it and
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  they go into those two rivers one goes to
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  the atlantic one goes to the gulf
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  A lot of times when you have excess
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  nutrients in those rivers and the heat
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  kind of heats it up at the right time
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  All those nutrients and phytoplankton go
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  into the ocean in a
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  heavy heavy concentration
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  You get cyanobacteria you get all this
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  other algal blooms and then you get these
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  red tides that we
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  discussed in yesterday's episode
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  Where you have this mixing of you know
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  The right amount of nutrients the right
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  amount of wind the right amount of
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  currents driven in the right
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  way and the right amount of
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  dinoflagellates which cause red tide and
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  can kill a lot of other species and cause
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  a nasty smell and just
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  the smothering of reefs
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  as well as
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  Sea grasses that can help feed the entire
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  food web and so not having being able to
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  balance these nutrients
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  and being able to monitor
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  These nutrients is really important
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  So when governments and policymakers try
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  to go to best practices, these companies
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  are not using best practices
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  They're just using whatever they want to
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  use. It's a ploy. That's how
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  they get it. So at the same time
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  Some open ocean regions are nutrient
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  limited understanding. This balance is
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  critical for managing coastal ecosystems
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  So another key strategy is long-term
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  plankton monitoring which can
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  be really easy to do programs
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  Like the continuous plankton recorder
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  survey which has been operating since the
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  1930s helped scientists track changes in
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  plankton communities
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  across the entire ocean
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  Basins these long-term data sets allow
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  researchers to detect climate driven
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  shifts in ocean ecosystems
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  Finally scientists are increasingly
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  working to incorporate microbial
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  processes into global climate models for
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  decades many climate models
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  simplified ocean biology
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  But new research is improving how models
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  represent microbial food
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  webs and carbon export processes
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  Understanding microbes is essential if we
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  want to predict how the ocean will
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  regulate climate in the future
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  If you love the way this show breaks down
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  you're learning from this
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  think will benefit from this
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  So let's look into the final thoughts
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  when we imagine climate solutions
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  We often picture forests renewable energy
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  and carbon capture technology
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  But the ocean is already running one of
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  the most powerful carbon
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  capture systems on earth
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  It's been doing so for millions of years
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  and it is powered by
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  organisms too small to see
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  Tomorrow we're going to look at another
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  microbial ability how microbes can help
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  clean pollution from the ocean
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  That's it for today's episode. If you
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  have any questions or comments, please
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  Let me know by going to speak up for
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  blue.com forward slash feedback that
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  Whatever you want to do
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  feedback. I would love to hear it
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  Like I always say this is a podcast where
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  I start the conversation
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  But i'd love for you to continue that
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  conversation and let's talk oceans
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  I want to thank you for joining me on
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  today's episode of the how to protect the
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  ocean podcast. Have a great day
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  We'll talk to you next
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  time and happy conservation