A carbon for every nitrogen

Biology and the environment interact, one shaping the other (1). In the oceans, the chemistry of seawater and the chemistry of life are intimately linked (2). In 1958, Alfred Redfield (3) noted that the microscopic plankton of the surface ocean contain carbon, nitrogen, and phosphorous atoms in a stoichiometry of ∼105:16:1 and that as these organisms sink and decay, the deep waters of the ocean become enriched in carbon, nitrogen, and phosphorous at the same ratio. This marked the beginnings of ecological stoichiometry, a growing field that is providing novel insight into the ecology and elemental cycles of the planet (4). A study in PNAS provides a new stoichiometric link, reporting that for every nitrogen consumed in the surface Atlantic Ocean, 1.12 carbons are converted from CO2 to dissolved organic carbon (DOC) (5).