Marine manipulations

摘要

The effect of increasing levels of atmospheric carbon dioxide on carbon uptake in and export from the upper ocean is one of the big questions in environmental science. But it can be tackled experimentally. Marine phytoplankton are major players in the carbon cycle, accounting for about 50% of the global biological uptake of carbon dioxide. Near the ocean surface, these single-celled organisms use light energy to convert CO_2 into organic molecules for building cellular structures and driving their metabolism.