资源环境科技发展态势分析平台

The ocean is a substantial sink for atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) released as a result of human activities. Over the coming decades the dissolved inorganic C concentration in the surface ocean is predicted to increase, which is expected to have a direct influence on the efficiency of C utilization (consumption and production) by phytoplankton during photosynthesis. Here we evaluated the generality of C-rich organic matter production by examining the elemental C:N ratio of organic matter produced under conditions of varying pCO(2). The data used in this analysis were obtained from a series of pelagic in situ pCO(2) perturbation studies that were performed in the diverse ocean regions and involved natural phytoplankton assemblages. The C:N ratio of the resulting particulate and dissolved organic matter did not differ across the range of pCO(2) conditions tested. In particular, the ratio for particulate organic C and N was found to be 6.58 +/- 0.05, close to the theoretical value of 6.6.