Direct Measurement of CO2 Fluxes in Marine Whitings

Clean, affordable energy is a requisite for the United States in the 21st Century Scientists continue to debate over whether increases in CO{sub 2} emissions to the atmosphere from anthropogenic sources, including electricity generation, transportation and building systems may be altering the Earth's climate. While global climate change continues to be debated, it is likely that significant cuts in net CO{sub 2} emissions will be mandated over the next 50-100 years. To this end, a number of viable means of CO{sub 2} sequestration need to be identified and implemented. One potential mechanism for CO{sub 2} sequestration is the use of naturally-occurring biological processes. Biosequestration of CO{sub 2} remains one of the most poorly understood processes, yet environmentally safe means for trapping and storing CO{sub 2}. Our investigation focused on the biogeochemical cycling of carbon in microbial precipitations of CaCO{sub 3}. Specifically, we investigated modern whitings (microbially-induced precipitates of the stable mineral calcium carbonate) as a potential, natural mechanism for CO{sub 2} abatement. This process is driven by photosynthetic metabolism of cyanobacteria and microalgae. We analyzed net air: sea CO{sub 2} fluxes, net calcification and photosynthetic rates in whitings. Both field and laboratory investigations have demonstrated that atmospheric CO{sub 2}decreases during the process of microbial calcification