Abstract
The ocean biological pump is the mechanism by which carbon and nutrients are transported to depth. As such, the biological pump is critical in the partitioning of carbon dioxide between the ocean and atmosphere, and the rate at which that carbon can be sequestered through burial in marine sediments. How the structure and function of planktic ecosystems in the ocean governs the strength and efficiency of the biological pump and its resilience to disruption are poorly understood. The aftermath of the impact at the Cretaceous/Palaeogene (K/Pg) boundary provides an ideal opportunity to address these questions as both the biological pump and marine plankton size and diversity were fundamentally disrupted. The excellent fossil record of planktic foraminifera as indicators of pelagic-biotic recovery combined with carbon isotope records tracing biological pump behaviour, show that the recovery of ecological traits (diversity, size, photosymbiosis) occurred much later (~4.3m.y) than biological pump recovery (~1.8m.y.). We interpret this decoupling of diversity and the biological pump as an indication that ecosystem function had sufficiently recovered to drive an effective biological pump, at least regionally in the South Atlantic.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Article number | 20210863 |
| Number of pages | 7 |
| Journal | Proceedings of the Royal Society of Edinburgh: Section B Biology |
| Volume | 288 |
| Issue number | 1953 |
| Early online date | 23 Jun 2021 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - 30 Jun 2021 |
Bibliographical note
Publisher Copyright:© 2021 The Author(s).
Keywords
- K/Pg
- biological pump
- planktonic foraminifera
- ecosystem function
- ecology
Access to Document
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This is the author accepted manuscript (AAM). The final published version (version of record) is available online via The Royal Society at https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2021.0863 . Please refer to any applicable terms of use of the publisher.