The ocean's food web is very sensitive to increases in CO2 concentration, but the relationships are much more complex than previously thought. Such conclusions arise from the publication of the GEOMAR team from the Helmholtz Center for Ocean Research Kiel. Data obtained from five innovative experimental systems, Mesocosms, located in different regions of the ocean, allowed to study the phenomenon of a biological carbon pump under natural conditions. The analysis of the obtained results showed that the process of carbon sequestration under water acidification conditions is highly dependent on the composition of planktonic species in the ecosystem and varies widely in different ocean regions.This conclusion will increase the complexity of climate models and improve the realistic description of the interactions between the atmosphere and the ocean and predict further climate change.

Taucher, J., T. Boxhammer, L.T. Bach, A. J. Paul, M. Schartau, P. Stange and U. Riebesell, 2020: Changing carbon-to-nitrogen ratios of organic-matter export under ocean acidification. Nat. Clim. Change, https://doi.org/10.1038/s41558-020-00915-5