Abstract
The deep ocean piezosphere accounts for a significant part of the global ocean, hosts active and diverse microbial communities which probably play a more important role than hitherto recognized in the global ocean carbon cycle. The conventional biological pump concept and the recently proposed microbial carbon pump mechanism provide a foundation for our understanding of the role of microorganisms in cycling of carbon in the ocean. However, there are significant gaps in our knowledge and a lack of mechanistic understanding of the processes of microbially-mediated production, transformation, degradation, and export of marine dissolved and particulate organic matter (DOM and POM) in the deep ocean and the ecological consequence. Here we propose the POM-DOM piezophilic microorganism continuum (PDPMC) conceptual model, to address these important biogeochemical processes in the deep ocean. We propose that piezophilic microorganisms (bacteria and archaea) play a pivotal role in deep ocean carbon cycle where microbial production of exoenzymes, enzymatic breakdown of DOM and transformation of POM fuels the rapid cycling of marine organic matter, and serve as the primary driver for carbon cycle in the deep ocean.
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Fang, J., Zhang, L., Li, J. et al. The POM-DOM piezophilic microorganism continuum (PDPMC)—The role of piezophilic microorganisms in the global ocean carbon cycle. Sci. China Earth Sci. 58, 106–115 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11430-014-4985-2
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11430-014-4985-2