Role of phytoplankton in marine silicon cycling

海洋浮游植物是地球系统的关键组成部分。它们贡献了世界年度光合作用固定碳的一半，并在海洋的营养循环中发挥着基础性作用。在所有浮游植物中，硅藻占地球光合作用的20%，是硅、碳、氮和其他营养物质循环过程的主要生物驱动因素。表层水中硅藻产生二氧化硅细胞壁，这种生物成因二氧化硅通过水柱溶解，以及生物成因二氧化硅和相关碳从表层向深海输出，这些都是海洋硅和碳循环中最重要的通量。这项建议描述了一个集成的现场和实验室计划，将促进我们对这些关键的、但鲜为人知的硅循环过程的理解。在接下来的5年里，我的目标是量化：

Marine phytoplankton are key components of the Earth system. They contribute half of the world’s annual photosynthetic fixation of carbon and play a fundamental role in nutrient cycling in the ocean. Of all phytoplankton groups, diatoms account for 20% of Earth’s photosynthesis and are the main biological drivers of processes involved in the cycling of silicon, carbon, nitrogen and other nutrients. Production of silica cell walls by diatoms in surface waters, dissolution of this biogenic silica through the water column, and export of biogenic silica and associated carbon from surface to deep waters are some of the most important fluxes in the oceanic silicon and carbon cycles. This proposal describes an integrated field and laboratory program that will advance our understanding of these critical, but poorly known, processes of the silicon cycle. During the next 5 years, my objectives are to quantify: