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Savannah Duncan

Lisa Cook

ENG 1201

6/15/2021

Why are microorganisms so important for regulating climate change?

Imagine if one day all the phytoplankton and other important microbes disappeared. It

might not sound like that bad of a thing, but if you look at the organisms that rely on them you

will find a chain of events that greatly affects the entire planet. Soon many of our ocean's fish

and whales would wash up on our shores. Eventually, all of the ocean life would die off from

starvation except for the few species that rely on nutrients from thermal vents. When we have

lost all of those things the devastation would still continue, many people would start to starve

and we would also notice an increase in carbon emissions. When one thinks of microbes they

think of small insignificant creatures but when you start to think of all of the living creatures that

rely on them they become so much more important.

The warming of the planet can be greatly

attributed to the greenhouse effect, which refers to a

process by which gas traps heat in the

atmosphere(“Carbon Sequestration”)(Wilmoth Lerner and

Lee Lerner). Among these greenhouse gases are nitrous

oxide, methane, and the most influential carbon dioxide.

Carbon dioxide is naturally produced by decomposition

and the regular processes of living organisms. Since the

industrial era, more carbon has been released into the

atmosphere than was ever intended in nature by the burning of fossil fuels and deforestation.

Carbon is so plentiful that private companies are capturing it and converting it into usable

resources such as concrete.

Carbon, like all greenhouse gases, naturally cycles through our environment. It can be

found in many forms for example, in the atmosphere as carbon dioxide, in the bottom of oceans

and underground as mineral carbon and within the bodies of living organisms as carbohydrates.

Organic carbon is released into the atmosphere by decomposition and the respiration of plants

and animals. Inorganic carbon is typically found in the form of fossil fuels and is released into

the atmosphere through burning. Normally the environment prevents large quantities of carbon

from being in the atmosphere but certain events like volcanoes and the actions of humans cause

an increase in carbon dioxide. High levels of carbon are toxic to the environment and the

creatures living in it.

The term microorganism refers to organisms that are too small to be viewed by the naked

eye. This gives us a wide range of organisms from bacteria to algae. Viruses like covid-19 which

fall under this category of organisms are not helpful to climate change. There are so many

different types of microorganisms that are important to climate change. The most common and

well known of these important microorganisms are phytoplankton. Phytoplankton is one of many

photosynthetic microbes that live in the ocean and act as the primary producers for the largest

part of our planet. Due to their small size phytoplankton weren’t discovered until the 1970’s.

Photosynthesis is the process by which plants and microbes like phytoplankton convert carbon

into carbohydrates using solar energy.

During photosynthesis carbon dioxide and water are converted into carbohydrates using

sunlight. There's a small zone in the ocean in which these organisms can survive and this is
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called the euphotic zone. In this zone, the bottom of the food web converts solar energy into

usable food. The resulting carbohydrates are stored in the bodies of these organisms and the

animals that eat them. Phytoplankton is then eaten by slightly larger microorganisms known as

zooplankton, which are microscopic animals. Larger animals like whales can store tons of carbon

like the bowhead that is thought to live over two hundred years. These massive creatures feed on

invertebrates known as krill that exclusively feed on microscopic phytoplankton. Krill not only

feed whales but they also feed small fish that then feed larger fish and this ocean chain feeds a

high percentage of humans. In nature, all things are in some way connected but microorganisms

are the foundation of life.

The most impactful greenhouse gas, carbon dioxide, and the long-term storage of it by

many organisms, including phytoplankton, is essential for climate regulation. The storage of

carbon by microorganisms prevents global warming and understanding how this works will help

us prevent further and excessive temperature rise. Our oceans make up over 70% of our planet

and the primary producers in the ocean are these photosynthetic microbes. Like all

photosynthetic organisms, they are extremely important to the carbon cycle. The carbon cycle is

not possible without photosynthesis and the prolonged storage of carbon known as carbon

sequestration(“Carbon Sequestration”)(Wilmoth Lerner and Lee Lerner). Unfortunately, the

carbon levels have increased dramatically since the Industrial Revolution from two hundred and

eighty ppm to three hundred and seventy-five ppm post-Industrial Revolution. These carbon

levels have been made worse by the death of whales, deforestation, peat moss harvesting, and

more.

Microorganisms are involved in many carbon-storing processes that affect the global

climate. Those microorganisms that are not fed on by larger organisms fall to the bottom of the
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ocean in what is known as marine snowfall(Tiny Plankton)(Ken Buesseler). This snowfall can lie

at the bottom of the ocean for hundreds to thousands of years. This carbon along with many other

nutrients stored at the bottom of the ocean is brought up to the surface through natural currents.

These currents are caused by the mixing of warm and cold waters and rising temperatures

reducing this mixing. The nutrients that come from the bottom of the ocean are used by

photosynthetic microorganisms like plants that use nutrients in the soil. The effects climate

change has on microorganisms inevitably have effects on the planet's temperature.

Our oceans' primary producers also absorb large amounts of solar energy that would be

reflected back into the atmosphere. If this energy was reflected back it would be trapped by

greenhouse gases like carbon causing a rise in atmospheric temperature. This is another way in

which photosynthetic microorganisms prevent the warming of the planet.

Some might think that protecting organisms that sequester carbon is unimportant if we

can capture and use carbon ourselves. If these organisms only capture carbon then that may be

true but they do so much more than that. Without phytoplankton our oceans would have no life

because phytoplankton feed all higher life-forms in our oceans. Even without that the ocean

makes up over 70% of our planet's surface area and we as a species could never come close to

replacing these natural processes already at work in our marine environment.

In a world, without microorganisms, there would be no higher life forms. These

unseeable living things are the foundation of life and an important participant in the global cycles

that keep our planet functioning. Greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide are meant to be naturally

stored by the photosynthetic organisms on our planet. We may not fully understand the how

behind microorganisms or the true impact they make on our global temperatures but we know

they are important.

Works Cited

Buesseler, Ken. "Tiny plankton drive processes in the ocean that capture twice as much

carbon as scientists thought." Gale Opposing Viewpoints Online Collection, Gale,

2021. Gale In Context: Opposing Viewpoints,

link.gale.com/apps/doc/YIGVOO479622998/OVIC?

u=dayt30401&sid=OVIC&xid=73d01078. Accessed 21 Apr. 2021. Originally

published as "Tiny plankton drive processes in the ocean that capture twice as much

carbon as scientists thought," The Conversation, 21 May 2020.

"Carbon Sequestration." Environmental Science: In Context, edited by Brenda Wilmoth

Lerner and K. Lee Lerner, vol. 1, Gale, 2009, pp. 90-94. In Context Series. Gale In

Context: Opposing Viewpoints, link.gale.com/apps/doc/CX3233900039/OVIC?

u=dayt30401&sid=OVIC&xid=ac4f796b. Accessed 21 Apr. 2021.

Mangodo, C., et al. “Impact of Microorganisms on Climate Change: A Review.” World

News of Natural Sciences (WNOFNS), vol. 31, July 2020, pp. 36–47. EBSCOhost,

search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?

direct=true&db=e5h&AN=143429852&site=eds-live.

“Overview of Greenhouse Gases.” US EPA, Environmental Protection Agency,

www.epa.gov/ghgemissions/overview-greenhouse-gases. Accessed 14 June 2021.

Sanders, Robert. “When It Comes to Climate Change, Don’t Forget the Microbes.”

Berkeley News, 18 June 2019, news.berkeley.edu/story_jump/when-it-comes-to-

climate-change-dont-forget-the-microbes.
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Singh, Shailendra Kumar, et al. Photosynthetic Microorganisms : Mechanism for Carbon

Concentration. Springer, 2014. EBSCOhost, search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?

direct=true&db=cat01128a&AN=scc.b1674854&site=eds-live.

"The Carbon Cycle and Climate Warming." Environmental Issues: Essential Primary

Sources, edited by Brenda Wilmoth Lerner and K. Lee Lerner, Gale, 2006, pp.

162-164. Gale In Context: Opposing Viewpoints,

link.gale.com/apps/doc/CX3456400071/OVIC?

u=dayt30401&sid=OVIC&xid=96014c0c. Accessed 21 Apr. 2021.