According to a new study by British researchers, starfish and their fellow echinoderms (sea urchins, sea lilies, etc) act as a significant sink for CO2. The ocean bottom-dwellers store about 2 percent of annual human CO2 emissions.
Researchers knew echinoderms store large amounts of calcium carbonate, some have bodies made up of 80 percent of the stuff, but they were still shocked by the results. It turns out, the small animals capture about 0.1 gigatonnes of carbon per year, compared to the 5.5 gigatonnes of carbon human activity pumps into the air annually.
The team came up with the figure by gathering carbon measurements of different echinoderms from various sample sites at latitudes around the world. They combined their measurements with population data and mortality data for the different classes to figure out how much carbon the animals stored and how quickly that carbon was buried after death.
They think the number could actually be greater since they had to form estimates for areas like the Equatorial Pacific which aren't well studied and likely have large populations. The scientists worry what increased acidification of the oceans will mean for these carbon suckers and how it will affect the global carbon cycle if they're greatly impacted.
via Nature News
Subscribe to this comment's feed
written by Sandru Mircea, January 10, 2010
-
- +0
-
-
written by Timetrvlr, January 11, 2010
Several years ago, there were some oceanic researchers that hoped to "fertilize" so called "dead zones" of the oceans with iron oxide, a trace nutrient apparently lacking in these "dead zones". It was hoped that the addition of iron oxide would spur plankton blooms, The plankton would take up and utilize vast quantities of carbon dioxide which would in turn spur a feeding frenzy by creatures further up the food chain. It was assumed that the CO2 would eventually be sequestered as calcium carbonate in the skeletons and detritus of these creatures.
Are Sea Stars a part of this scenario?
-
- +1
-
-
written by octopod, January 11, 2010
Timetrvlr: Ocean fertilization was proposed for deep-sea environments, and sea stars (the vast majority of echinoderms, in fact) live on continental shelves. I think we're better off cultivating oysters in the overfertilized delta regions; they can put down tremendous quantities of biomass and calcite, and they're down at the filter-feeding level rather than the predator level.
-
- +1
-
-
written by Harriet Russel, January 12, 2010
It was my understanding that ocean acidification was due to an overabundance of CO2 beyond what these creatures could absorb. Now acidification might also reduce their capacity for absorption? Sounds like a vicious cycle.
-
- -1
-
-
written by dasy smith, May 02, 2013
-
- +0
-
-
| < Prev | Next > |
|---|
JAN 08
"Star fish or sea stars are echinoderms belonging to the class Asteroid..."
View all Comments