Scientists from the Max Planck Institute sounded the alarm as large amounts of sugar were discovered in the oceans.
Seaweed, a marine flowering plant found in many coastal regions of the world, may be responsible for this phenomenon. These species also play an important role in the marine environment, being one of the most efficient carbon dioxide (CO₂) sinks on the planet.
According to the study, one square kilometer of seaweed stores nearly twice as much carbon as terrestrial forests, and it does so 35 times faster.
This makes seaweed a vital resource for reducing greenhouse gas emissions globally.
In this new study, the researchers found that the huge supply of sugar is a concern.
“Sugar is usually part of the normal process of photosynthesis. These plants use most of the sugars they produce for their growth,” said institute director Nicole Dobellier. But under high light conditions, at noon or during summer, for example, plants produce more sugar than they can consume.”
This excess of the sugar produced is then stored, to be later released into the root zone, the part of the soil where the roots are.
During warmer weather, these roots are filled with high concentrations of sugar.
“It is estimated that there are between 0.6 and 1.3 million tons of sugar in the root zone of seaweeds worldwide,” said Manuel Liebeck, head of the Metabolic Interactions Research Group at the institute.
That’s the equivalent of about 32 billion cans of soda, and this rooted casing is home to a host of bacteria and other microorganisms, which love sugar like humans.
For these microbes, the sugars are easily digestible, and they are quickly consumed and converted to carbon dioxide by the bacteria.
In order to prevent this production of carbon dioxide, seaweeds intervene in this process by releasing phenols into their sediments.
Phenols, a type of chemical compound produced by plants, are found in everyday foods, however, they also have an additional function as an antimicrobial.
In the study, researchers discovered that by preventing microorganisms from digesting the sugars found in seaweed, they were able to prevent the release of large amounts of carbon dioxide into the ocean. Carbon dioxide by seaweed.
Seaweeds are among the most threatened habitats on our planet, and if they disappear, researchers warn that astronomical amounts of carbon dioxide and sugar will be released into the atmosphere.
Furthermore, without the phenols that seaweed releases to prevent microbes from digesting the sugar, more carbon dioxide would be released into the atmosphere.