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The Carbon Pump
Phytoplankton have been in the news as a way to combat global warming. When plants or creatures die in the ocean, they sink to the bottom, taking all the carbon dioxide they have absorbed with them down to the ooze in the depths. This is an ongoing cycle that has existed since life and the oceans first existed. Scientists have been considering whether this process can be enhanced to occur more quickly than the current slow turnover. The cycle is called the "carbon pump."
Iron and Fertilization
A scientist, John Martin, Director of the Moss Landing Marine Laboratory, postulated that a lack of iron in certain ocean environments caused low phytoplankton counts. Phytoplankton thrive in an iron-rich environment; iron enables the conversion of sunlight to energy within the plant. The theory supposed that by adding iron to the ocean, algae blooms would form, which would absorb more carbon dioxide that they would take down to the ocean floor when they died.
Effects on Plankton
Iron does not affect all plankton in the same way. Diatoms seem to be especially responsive to it. The net effect is that there is more plankton, but it is often a different kind of plankton than what was there before. This of course can change an entire ecosystem, depending on what was preying on the plankton.
The Effects of Plankton Blooms
While the effect of more plankton may be better carbon sequestration, the opposite side is the issue with plankton blooms. In most northern cold waters, they can be beneficial to life as they provide nutrients. This is why so many northern and southern fisheries are productive. However, in tropical waters, where plankton blooms are not so common, they can destroy coral reefs which require sunlight and access to the water. Being coated in algae destroys these conditions and the reefs and the creatures that depend on them die.