CO2 engineers of deep sea: Cod, eel save environment by storing carbon in ocean
New research reveals that many of the fish species we eat are vital to maintaining the seabed — and by extension, the climate.
New research reveals that many of the fish species we eat are vital to maintaining the seabed — and by extension, the climate.
Experts at the Convex Seascape Survey analyzed the role of fish in bioturbation, which is the stirring and reworking of sediments in the shallow seas around the UK and globally. The results also underscore the ecological importance of species like the Atlantic cod, Atlantic hagfish, and European eel, which were the region’s highest-ranked ‘ecosystem engineers’.
Altogether, the researchers identified 185 fish species contributing to bioturbation, 120 targeted by commercial fisheries.
“Ocean sediments are the world’s largest reservoir of organic carbon – so what happens on the seabed matters for our climate,” said University of Exeter PhD student Mara Fischer, who led the study.
“Bioturbation is very important for how the seabed takes up and stores organic carbon, so the process is vital to our understanding of how the ocean absorbs greenhouse gases to slow the rate of climate change.