Balance of nature: importance of ecosystems (Introduction)

by David Turell , Monday, December 20, 2021, 19:59 (859 days ago) @ David Turell

A new part of the ocean's ecosystems is found:

https://phys.org/news/2021-12-photosynthetic-algae-survive-dark.html

"As part of the new study, the team conducted laboratory experiments that showed some coccolithophores could survive without light. This revealed that the organisms must have another way to produce the energy and carbon that they need.

"'We've been stuck on a paradigm that algae are just photosynthetic organisms, and for a long time their capability to otherwise feed was disregarded," said Jelena Godrijan, the paper's first author, who conducted the research as a postdoctoral scientist at Bigelow Laboratory. "Getting the coccolithophores to grow and survive in the dark is amazing to me, especially if you think about how they managed to survive when animals like the dinosaurs didn't."

"The study revealed how some coccolithophore species could use previously unrecognized organic compounds as carbon sources instead of carbon dioxide, which is what plants usually use. They can process dissolved organic compounds and immediately utilize them in a process called osmotrophy. The findings may explain how these organisms survive in dark conditions, such as after the asteroid impact, or deep in the ocean beneath where sunlight can reach.

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"Coccolithophores are integral to processes that control the global ocean and atmosphere, including the carbon cycle. They take in dissolved carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, which gets transported to the ocean floor when they die.

"'That's hugely important to the distribution of carbon dioxide on Earth," said Balch. "If we didn't have this biological carbon pump, the carbon dioxide in our atmosphere would be way higher than it is now, probably over two times as much."

"Coccolithophores also play an important role in mitigating ocean acidity, which can negatively affect organisms like shellfish and corals. The single-celled algae remove carbon from the water to build protective mineral plates made of limestone around themselves, which sink when they die. The process effectively pumps alkalinity deeper into the ocean, which chemically bolsters the water's ability to resist becoming more acidic.

"The new study revealed that the algae also take in carbon from previously unrecognized sources deeper in the water column. This could connect coccolithophores to a new set of global processes and raises fundamental questions about their role in the ocean.

"'Coccolithophores are integrated into global cycles in ways that we never imagined," Balch said. "This research really changes my thinking about food webs in dark regions where photosynthesis clearly isn't happening. It changes the paradigm."

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"Coccolithophores are tiny, tiny creatures, but they have such huge impacts on all life that most people are not even aware of," Godrijan said. "It brings me hope for our own lives to see how such small things can have such an influence on the planet.'" (my bold)

Comment: all of life on Earth is integrated in the way this study illustrates. All created by God-0designed evolution. My bold enhances the point that this is an answer to dhw's complaint that all God wanted was 'humans and food'. The complaint is thoughtless, and points out how incompletely dhw has thought through the issue. Every tiny organism is required to sustain the Earth in balance for huge human population.