2024/05/02 by Kunshan Gao, Yuming Rao, Guang Gao +3 · 1 voice
Engineering · Environmental Science · #Atmospheric and Environmental Gas Dynamics #Hydrocarbon exploration and reservoir analysis #Methane Hydrates and Related Phenomena
paper · pdf · doi:10.21203/rs.3.rs-4268781/v1
crossref issued 2024/05/02 · crossref published 2024/05/02 · openalex publication_date 2024/05/02 · crossref created 2024/05/02 · crossref deposited 2024/11/13 · crossref indexed 2025/05/14 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
Abstract Phytoplankton produces methane (CH 4 ), a potent greenhouse gas. Little is known about the relationship between their CH 4 production and photosynthesis, the predominant biological pathway of CO 2 sequestration in the ocean. We show that CH 4 released by the widespread, bloom-forming marine microalga Emiliania huxleyi grown under different light levels correlated positively with photosynthetic electron transfer and carbon fixation. We ruled out the possibility of classical methanogenesis in the cultures and showed that under saturating light E. huxleyi produces CH 4 at a maximal rate of about 6.6 ×10 − 11 µg CH 4 cell − 1 d − 1 or 3.9 µg CH 4 g − 1 particulate organic carbon d − 1 , and cannot generate CH 4 in darkness. Accounting for the CH 4 released vs CO 2 fixed, the stronger global warming potential of CH 4 , and estimates of CO 2 that reaches the ocean interior, we conclude that E . huxley i’s contribution to the marine biological carbon pump may be attenuated by up to 13% due to its CH 4 release.