Ingenious Algae, Al Gore’s Nemesis?
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It was once believed that this tiny, yet extremely pervasive blue-green algae, or cyanobacteria (specifically, Synechococcus) helped moderate the increase in carbon dioxide emissions as it underwent photosynthesis across the world’s oceans. While generally true, scientists at Stanford and the Carnegie Institution noticed something odd while working with these critters in the lab – the amount of photosynthesis activity measured didn’t match the amount of carbon dioxide being consumed.
Uh oh.
Instead, it turns out Synechococcus developed a method for bypassing the carbon-fixing step of photosynthesis, which it utilizes in areas of the ocean which are iron deficient. Unfortunately, that includes a rather large chunk of ocean. And when Synechococcus uses this no-carbon-fixing pathway, it means carbon dioxide is not getting removed from the atmosphere as quickly as Al Gore (or nearly anybody else) would like.
And, whereas previously scientists estimated cyanobacteria carbon dioxide uptake by simply analyzing satellite imagery and measuring chlorophyll concentrations, they’ll now have to take into account levels of nutrients as well. And I’m not sure how you do that with satelites.
Yikes, it looks like someone’s job just got a bit harder. And, an even better reason to trade in for a Prius. Wait, oh yeah, one more pathway to learn in Bio 1A and Biochem 126.
Source: Stanford
Photo: Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory