Marine Biopolymer Dynamics, Gel Formation, and Carbon Cycling in the Ocean

Author:

Verdugo Pedro1

Affiliation:

1. Department of Bioengineering, University of Washington, Friday Harbor Laboratories, Friday Harbor, WA 98250, USA

Abstract

Much like our own body, our planet is a macroscale dynamic system equipped with a complex set of compartmentalized controls that have made life and evolution possible on earth. Many of these global autoregulatory functions take place in the ocean; paramount among those is its role in global carbon cycling. Understanding the dynamics of organic carbon transport in the ocean remains among the most critical, urgent, and least acknowledged challenges to modern society. Dissolved in seawater is one of the earth’s largest reservoirs of reduced organic carbon, reaching ~700 billion tons. It is composed of a polydisperse collection of marine biopolymers (MBP), that remain in reversible assembled↔dissolved equilibrium forming hydrated networks of marine gels (MG). MGs are among the least understood aspects of marine carbon dynamics. Despite the polymer nature of this gigantic pool of material, polymer physics theory has only recently been applied to study MBP dynamics and gel formation in the ocean. There is a great deal of descriptive phenomenology, rich in classifications, and significant correlations. Still missing, however, is the guide of robust physical theory to figure out the fundamental nature of the supramolecular interactions taking place in seawater that turn out to be critical to understanding carbon transport in the ocean.

Funder

National Science Foundation

Publisher

MDPI AG

Reference67 articles.

1. Use of laser scattering for quantitative determinations of bacterial motility;Nossal;Opt. Commun.,1971

2. Spontaneous assembly of marine dissolved organic matter into polymer gels;Chin;Nat. Cell Biol.,1998

3. A neglected dimension;Wells;Nature,1998

4. Oceanography: Microbial Control of Oceanic Carbon Flux: The Plot Thickens;Azam;Science,1998

5. Extracellular release of carbon by marine phytoplankton; a physiological approach;Mague;Limnol. Oceanogr.,1980

Cited by 9 articles. 订阅此论文施引文献 订阅此论文施引文献,注册后可以免费订阅5篇论文的施引文献,订阅后可以查看论文全部施引文献

同舟云学术

1.学者识别学者识别

2.学术分析学术分析

3.人才评估人才评估

"同舟云学术"是以全球学者为主线,采集、加工和组织学术论文而形成的新型学术文献查询和分析系统,可以对全球学者进行文献检索和人才价值评估。用户可以通过关注某些学科领域的顶尖人物而持续追踪该领域的学科进展和研究前沿。经过近期的数据扩容,当前同舟云学术共收录了国内外主流学术期刊6万余种,收集的期刊论文及会议论文总量共计约1.7亿篇,并以每天添加12000余篇中外论文的速度递增。我们也可以为用户提供个性化、定制化的学者数据。欢迎来电咨询!咨询电话:010-8811{复制后删除}0370

www.globalauthorid.com

TOP

Copyright © 2019-2025 北京同舟云网络信息技术有限公司
京公网安备11010802033243号  京ICP备18003416号-3