Experiments show high sinking speed for dead gelatinous
plankton species
How much more carbon dioxide (CO2) will the oceans be able
to take up? To find out more about the efficiency of this service, scientists
estimate the sinking velocities of organisms involved in the biological pump.
Increasing numbers of gelatinous plankton might help in mitigating the CO2
problem. In field and laboratory experiments scientists from GEOMAR Helmholtz
Centre for Ocean Research Kiel has shown that dead jellyfish and pelagic
tunicates sink much faster than phytoplankton and marine snow remains. Jellies
are especially important because they rapidly consume plankton and particles
and quickly export biomass and carbon to the ocean interior.