All carbon cycle articles
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NewsMicroalgae are more significant for carbon dioxide absorption in the Southern Ocean than previously thought
14,000 years ago, algal blooms in the Southern Ocean helped to massively reduce the global carbon dioxide content of the atmosphere – as has now been revealed by new analyses of ancient DNA. Declines in sea ice pose a serious threat to these algae.
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NewsFor microscopic organisms, ocean currents act as ‘expressway’ to deeper depths
New research shows how tiny plant-like organisms hitch a ride on ocean currents to reach darker and deeper depths, where they impact carbon cycling and microbial dynamics in the subtropical oceans.
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NewsAccelerated marine carbon cycling forced by tectonic degassing over the Miocene Climate Optimum
Massive carbon inputs from volcanism and seafloor spreading have impacted the orbital phase relationships between carbon cycle and climate change, a new study finds.
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NewsStudy suggests the carbon cycle is speeding up
In Northern ecosystems, rising temperatures are depleting the soil carbon reservoir, a new study reveals.
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NewsScientists reveal how Captain Cook microbe forms clumps
Researchers have described for the first time how the marine microorganism Trichodesmium filaments form aggregates through a simple yet exquisitely effective behavioural strategy.
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NewsStudy of bacterial division yields surprising results
A new study focusing on the number of dividing bacterial cells in the North Sea challenges some dogmas about marine microbial life.
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NewsProchlorococcus ancestors rafted out to sea on chitin particles
Scientists propose that ancestors of Prochlorococcus hitched a ride on passing exoskeleton particles, using the particles as rafts to venture further out to sea. These chitin rafts may have also provided essential nutrients, fueling and sustaining the microbes along their journey.
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NewsViruses may disrupt carbon cycle in warming world
Scientists describe many different ways that increasing temperatures could affect viruses and their microbial hosts, changes that could ultimately affect the responses of whole ecosystems to warming.
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NewsTiny chalk discs in oceans play key role in earth’s carbon cycle by propagating viruses
Researchers find biomineral structures formed by marine algae foment viral infection, contributing positively to capture CO2.
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NewsLong-term projects reveal how warming planet will impact microbe carbon cycling
A team of researchers led by the University of Massachusetts Amherst has helped to untangle one of the knottiest questions involving soil microbes and climate change: what effect does a warming planet have on the microbes’ carbon cycling?
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NewsNew technique reveals marine microbes’ outsized role in carbon cycle
A small fraction of marine microorganisms are responsible for most of the consumption of oxygen and release of carbon dioxide in the ocean, new research suggests.
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NewsMarine bacteria take in carbon dioxide through photosynthesis
Researchers in China have identified carbon-dioxide-fixing cells from seawater and determined that their sample contains functioning genes for light harvesting, suggesting that the bacteria engage in photosynthesis.