Poster's note : Whilst ostensibly having little to do with GE, the below result is potentially impactful on the CROPS scheme postulated by Strand et al ( http://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/es8015556 ) and its possible variants. CROPS relies on sequestration of organic C in benthic ocean strata. The paper abstracted below suggests that the Southern Ocean is currently incapable of sustaining the organisms which would decompose woody waste in these waters, and as such may offer a stable repository for lignin-based C storage (one perhaps more attractive than mid-latitude benthic waters. However, as volumes sequestered increase, an increasingly attractive environment for woody-decomposers would exist. This may ultimately render the storage unstable. I'm not experienced in this field, and hope others can comment on the matter
http://rspb.royalsocietypublishing.org/content/280/1768/20131390 Title: Bone-eating worms from the Antarctic: the contrasting fate of whale and wood remains on the Southern Ocean seafloor Adrian G. Glover1, Helena Wiklund1, Sergio Taboada2, Conxita Avila2,3, Javier Cristobo4, Craig R. Smith5, Kirsty M. Kemp1,6, Alan J. Jamieson7 and Thomas G. Dahlgren8,9⇑ Abstract We report the results from the first experimental study of the fate of whale and wood remains on the Antarctic seafloor. Using a baited free-vehicle lander design, we show that whale-falls in the Antarctic are heavily infested by at least two new species of bone-eating worm, Osedax antarcticus sp. nov. and Osedax deceptionensis sp. nov. In stark contrast, wood remains are remarkably well preserved with the absence of typical wood-eating fauna such as the xylophagainid bivalves. The combined whale-fall and wood-fall experiment provides support to the hypothesis that the Antarctic circumpolar current is a barrier to the larvae of deep-water species that are broadly distributed in other ocean basins. Since humans first started exploring the Antarctic, wood has been deposited on the seafloor in the form of shipwrecks and waste; our data suggest that this anthropogenic wood may be exceptionally well preserved. Alongside the new species descriptions, we conducted a comprehensive phylogenetic analyses of Osedax, suggesting the clade is most closely related to the frenulate tubeworms, not the vestimentiferans as previous reported. -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "geoengineering" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/geoengineering. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out.
