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Peer-reviewedCC BY-NCScience Advances

C:H:N:O:P stoichiometry and oxygen demand of marine organic matter are driven by phytoplankton ecophysiology

  • Shlomit Sharoni1
  • Keisuke Inomura2
  • Stephanie Dutkiewicz1,3
  • Oliver Jahn1
  • Gregory L. Britten4
  • Michael J. Follows1
4 affiliations
  1. 1Department of Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, USA.
  2. 2Graduate School of Oceanography, University of Rhode Island, Narragansett, RI, USA.
  3. 3Center for Sustainability Science and Strategy, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, USA.
  4. 4Biology Department, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Woods Hole, MA, USA.
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Abstract

Although the hydrogen and oxygen content of marine phytoplankton plays a critical role in determining oceanic O₂ consumption rates, shaping habitat for anaerobic metabolism, they are often assumed to be constant in biogeochemical studies, resulting in biased estimates of respiration rates. Here, by simulating phytoplankton allocation in a general circulation model, we predict latitudinal variations in phytoplankton C:H:N:O:P composition and corresponding O₂ demand. These patterns are driven by physiological adaptation to environmental conditions and are consistent with observations. Subtropical phytoplankton have more C─O bonds and lower O₂ demand, as they contain more carbohydrates than higher-latitude populations. We test the sensitivity of O₂ inventory and regenerated C via the biological pump (Csoft) to plausible bounds of cellular allocation and find that the global O₂ inventory and Csoft decrease by ∼11 and 14%, respectively, when a cell shifts from carbohydrate-rich to protein-rich biomass. Our findings demonstrate that biochemical remodeling of phytoplankton composition mediates large-scale patterns and oceanic budgets of O₂ and C.

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Cite

BibTeXRIS
BibTeX
@article{sharoni2026chnop,
  title = {{C:H:N:O:P stoichiometry and oxygen demand of marine organic matter are driven by phytoplankton ecophysiology}},
  author = {Shlomit Sharoni and Keisuke Inomura and Stephanie Dutkiewicz and Oliver Jahn and Gregory L. Britten and Michael J. Follows},
  journal = {Science Advances},
  year = {2026},
  month = oct,
  doi = {10.1126/sciadv.aeg6228},
  url = {https://www.science.org/doi/abs/10.1126/sciadv.aeg6228},
  note = {CC BY-NC},
}
RIS
TY  - JOUR
TI  - C:H:N:O:P stoichiometry and oxygen demand of marine organic matter are driven by phytoplankton ecophysiology
AU  - Shlomit Sharoni
AU  - Keisuke Inomura
AU  - Stephanie Dutkiewicz
AU  - Oliver Jahn
AU  - Gregory L. Britten
AU  - Michael J. Follows
PY  - 2026
DA  - 2026/10/30
JO  - Science Advances
DO  - 10.1126/sciadv.aeg6228
UR  - https://www.science.org/doi/abs/10.1126/sciadv.aeg6228
AB  - Although the hydrogen and oxygen content of marine phytoplankton plays a critical role in determining oceanic O₂ consumption rates, shaping habitat for anaerobic metabolism, they are often assumed to be constant in biogeochemical studies, resulting in biased estimates of respiration rates. Here, by simulating phytoplankton allocation in a general circulation model, we predict latitudinal variations in phytoplankton C:H:N:O:P composition and corresponding O₂ demand. These patterns are driven by physiological adaptation to environmental conditions and are consistent with observations. Subtropical phytoplankton have more C─O bonds and lower O₂ demand, as they contain more carbohydrates than higher-latitude populations. We test the sensitivity of O₂ inventory and regenerated C via the biological pump (Csoft) to plausible bounds of cellular allocation and find that the global O₂ inventory and Csoft decrease by ∼11 and 14%, respectively, when a cell shifts from carbohydrate-rich to protein-rich biomass. Our findings demonstrate that biochemical remodeling of phytoplankton composition mediates large-scale patterns and oceanic budgets of O₂ and C.
SN  - 2375-2548
ER  -