Did Algae Eat All the Silica in the World’s Oceans?
Pickering, Rebecca LU
and Doering, Kristin
LU
(2024)
In Frontiers for Young Minds
- Abstract
- Silicon is a crucial nutrient that can join with the element oxygen to form a substance commonly called silica. Silica, commonly known as glass, is found in rocks in the Earth’s crust and dissolves into the oceans, where organisms like algae and sponges use it to build their glassy skeletons. This process, called biosilicification, is extremely important in the silica cycle. Over time, organisms have changed the silica cycle. Today, because of these organisms, the oceans no longer contain much silica. However, when the Earth was younger and these organisms had not evolved yet, no biological processes affected silica in the oceans. The evolution of these oceanic organisms across time has removed silica from the oceans. In this article, we... (More)
- Silicon is a crucial nutrient that can join with the element oxygen to form a substance commonly called silica. Silica, commonly known as glass, is found in rocks in the Earth’s crust and dissolves into the oceans, where organisms like algae and sponges use it to build their glassy skeletons. This process, called biosilicification, is extremely important in the silica cycle. Over time, organisms have changed the silica cycle. Today, because of these organisms, the oceans no longer contain much silica. However, when the Earth was younger and these organisms had not evolved yet, no biological processes affected silica in the oceans. The evolution of these oceanic organisms across time has removed silica from the oceans. In this article, we discuss how the evolution of silicon-using sponges, as well as tiny organisms called zooplankton and algae, have changed the amount of silica in the world’s oceans through geologic time. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
https://lup.lub.lu.se/record/d89822da-988d-4249-be4e-5a233f2bfe5e
- author
- Pickering, Rebecca
LU
and Doering, Kristin
LU
- organization
- publishing date
- 2024-01-09
- type
- Contribution to journal
- publication status
- published
- subject
- keywords
- silica, Diatoms, Geologic Time
- in
- Frontiers for Young Minds
- article number
- 1175538
- publisher
- Frontiers Media S. A.
- ISSN
- 2296-6846
- DOI
- 10.3389/frym.2023.1175538
- language
- English
- LU publication?
- yes
- id
- d89822da-988d-4249-be4e-5a233f2bfe5e
- date added to LUP
- 2024-01-09 17:15:09
- date last changed
- 2024-01-15 11:50:17
@article{d89822da-988d-4249-be4e-5a233f2bfe5e,
abstract = {{Silicon is a crucial nutrient that can join with the element oxygen to form a substance commonly called silica. Silica, commonly known as glass, is found in rocks in the Earth’s crust and dissolves into the oceans, where organisms like algae and sponges use it to build their glassy skeletons. This process, called biosilicification, is extremely important in the silica cycle. Over time, organisms have changed the silica cycle. Today, because of these organisms, the oceans no longer contain much silica. However, when the Earth was younger and these organisms had not evolved yet, no biological processes affected silica in the oceans. The evolution of these oceanic organisms across time has removed silica from the oceans. In this article, we discuss how the evolution of silicon-using sponges, as well as tiny organisms called zooplankton and algae, have changed the amount of silica in the world’s oceans through geologic time.}},
author = {{Pickering, Rebecca and Doering, Kristin}},
issn = {{2296-6846}},
keywords = {{silica; Diatoms; Geologic Time}},
language = {{eng}},
month = {{01}},
publisher = {{Frontiers Media S. A.}},
series = {{Frontiers for Young Minds}},
title = {{Did Algae Eat All the Silica in the World’s Oceans?}},
url = {{https://lup.lub.lu.se/search/files/168746599/Pickering_and_Doering_2024.pdf}},
doi = {{10.3389/frym.2023.1175538}},
year = {{2024}},
}