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Book ChapterDOI

The Biological Pump

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TLDR
The biological pump is the set of processes by which inorganic carbon (e.g., carbon dioxide) is fixed into organic matter via photosynthesis and then sequestered away from the atmosphere generally by transport into the deep ocean.
Abstract
The biological pump is the set of processes by which inorganic carbon (e.g., carbon dioxide) is fixed into organic matter via photosynthesis and then sequestered away from the atmosphere generally by transport into the deep ocean. This may be accomplished by the passive sinking of particulate organic matter, through the vertical migration of zooplankton, or the downwelling of surface waters rich in dissolved organic matter. In addition to concentrating carbon in the deep sea, the biological pump also significantly affects the distribution of a number of different chemical constituents of ocean water. There is keen interest in being able to predict both the overall capacity and the efficiency of the biological pump in different places and at different times (including in the future). The physical environment, the type of phytoplankton present, the activities of zooplankton, the presence of biominerals and clay minerals, and the structure of the food web all play important roles in determining both the capacity and efficiency of the biological pump on local and regional scales, complicating efforts to portray the biological pump in models.

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Citations
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Book ChapterDOI

A review of the adaptive significance and ecosystem consequences of zooplankton diel vertical migrations

TL;DR: Recent advances in biotelemetry promise to allow the interaction between migrating zooplankton and diving air-breathing vertebrates to be explored in far more detail than hitherto.
Journal Article

Contribution of Southern Ocean surface-water stratification to low atmospheric CO 2 concentrations during the last glacial period

TL;DR: The nitrogen-isotope record preserved in Southern Ocean sediments, along with several geochemical tracers for the settling fluxes of biogenic matter, reveals patterns of past nutrient supply to phytoplankton and surface-water stratification in this oceanic region as mentioned in this paper.
Journal ArticleDOI

Factors influencing the sinking of POC and the efficiency of the biological carbon pump

TL;DR: A more systematic understanding of these processes will allow the biological pump to be included in global models as more than an empirically-determined decline in POC concentrations with depth that may not adequately represent past or future conditions as discussed by the authors.
Journal ArticleDOI

The biological pump in a high CO 2 world

TL;DR: In this paper, the response of the biological pump to the changing environment is a prerequisite to predicting future atmospheric carbon dioxide concen- trations, which can lead to net carbon sequestration within the ocean's interior.
Journal ArticleDOI

Enhanced chemical weathering as a geoengineering strategy to reduce atmospheric carbon dioxide, supply nutrients, and mitigate ocean acidification

TL;DR: Enhanced weathering is an integral part of both the rock and carbon cycles and is being affected by changes in land use, particularly as a result of agricultural practices such as tilling, mineral fertilization, or liming to adjust soil pH as mentioned in this paper.
References
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Book

Chemistry of the elements

TL;DR: In this article, the origins of the elements, isotopes and atomic weights Chemical periodicity and the periodic table were discussed, including the following elements: Hydrogen Lithium, sodium, potassium, rubidium, caesium and francium Beryllium, magnesium, calcium, strontium, barium and radium Boron Aluminium, gallium, indium and thallium Carbon Silicon Germanium, tin and lead Nitrogen Phosphorus Arsenic, antimony and bismuth Oxygen Sulfur Selenium, tellurium
Journal ArticleDOI

The Ecological Role of Water-Column Microbes in the Sea*

TL;DR: Evidence is presented to suggest that numbers of free bacteria are controlled by nanoplankton~c heterotrophic flagellates which are ubiquitous in the marine water column, thus providing the means for returning some energy from the 'microbial loop' to the conventional planktonic food chain.
Journal ArticleDOI

Primary Production of the Biosphere: Integrating Terrestrial and Oceanic Components

TL;DR: Integrating conceptually similar models of the growth of marine and terrestrial primary producers yielded an estimated global net primary production of 104.9 petagrams of carbon per year, with roughly equal contributions from land and oceans.
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What is the biotic pump?

The paper does not provide information about the "biotic pump."