IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/nat/nature/v618y2023i7965d10.1038_s41586-023-06041-4.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Krill body size drives particulate organic carbon export in West Antarctica

Author

Listed:
  • Rebecca Trinh

    (Columbia University
    Columbia University)

  • Hugh W. Ducklow

    (Columbia University
    Columbia University)

  • Deborah K. Steinberg

    (William & Mary)

  • William R. Fraser

    (Polar Oceans Research Group)

Abstract

The export of carbon from the ocean surface and storage in the ocean interior is important in the modulation of global climate1–4. The West Antarctic Peninsula experiences some of the largest summer particulate organic carbon (POC) export rates, and one of the fastest warming rates, in the world5,6. To understand how warming may alter carbon storage, it is necessary to first determine the patterns and ecological drivers of POC export7,8. Here we show that Antarctic krill (Euphausia superba) body size and life-history cycle, as opposed to their overall biomass or regional environmental factors, exert the dominant control on the POC flux. We measured POC fluxes over 21 years, the longest record in the Southern Ocean, and found a significant 5-year periodicity in the annual POC flux, which oscillated in synchrony with krill body size, peaking when the krill population was composed predominately of large individuals. Krill body size alters the POC flux through the production and export of size-varying faecal pellets9, which dominate the total flux. Decreases in winter sea ice10, an essential habitat for krill, are causing shifts in the krill population11, which may alter these export patterns of faecal pellets, leading to changes in ocean carbon storage.

Suggested Citation

  • Rebecca Trinh & Hugh W. Ducklow & Deborah K. Steinberg & William R. Fraser, 2023. "Krill body size drives particulate organic carbon export in West Antarctica," Nature, Nature, vol. 618(7965), pages 526-530, June.
  • Handle: RePEc:nat:nature:v:618:y:2023:i:7965:d:10.1038_s41586-023-06041-4
    DOI: 10.1038/s41586-023-06041-4
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-023-06041-4
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1038/s41586-023-06041-4?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Matthew S. Savoca & Mehr Kumar & Zephyr Sylvester & Max F. Czapanskiy & Bettina Meyer & Jeremy A. Goldbogen & Cassandra M. Brooks, 2024. "Whale recovery and the emerging human-wildlife conflict over Antarctic krill," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 15(1), pages 1-10, December.
    2. E. L. Cavan & N. Mackay & S. L. Hill & A. Atkinson & A. Belcher & A. Visser, 2024. "Antarctic krill sequester similar amounts of carbon to key coastal blue carbon habitats," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 15(1), pages 1-10, December.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:nat:nature:v:618:y:2023:i:7965:d:10.1038_s41586-023-06041-4. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.nature.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.