The contribution of pelagic fungi to ocean biomass

Eva Breyer (Corresponding author), Constanze Stix, Sophie Kilker, Benjamin R.K. Roller, Fragkiski Panagou, Charlotte Doebke, Chie Amano, Daniel E.M. Saavedra, Guillem Coll-García, Barbara Steger-Mähnert, Jordi Dachs, Naiara Berrojalbiz, Maria Vila-Costa, Cristina Sobrino, Antonio Fuentes-Lema, Franz Berthiller, Martin F. Polz, Federico Baltar (Corresponding author)

Publications: Contribution to journalArticlePeer Reviewed

Abstract

Metagenomic analysis has recently unveiled the widespread presence of pelagic fungi in the global ocean, yet their quantitative contribution to carbon stocks remains elusive, hindering their incorporation into biogeochemical models. Here, we revealed the biomass of pelagic fungi in the open-ocean water column by combining ergosterol extraction, Calcofluor-White staining, catalyzed reporter deposition fluorescence in situ hybridization (CARD-FISH), and microfluidic mass sensor techniques. We compared fungal biomass with the biomass of other more studied microbial groups in the ocean such as archaea and bacteria. Globally, fungi contributed 0.32 Gt C (CI: 0.19–0.46), refining previous uncertainty estimates from two orders of magnitude to less than one. While fungal biomass was lower than that of bacteria, it exceeded that of the archaea (archaea:fungi:bacteria biomass ratio of 1:9:44). Collectively, our findings reveal the important contribution of fungi to open-ocean biomass and, consequently, the marine carbon cycle, emphasizing the need for their inclusion in biogeochemical models.

Original languageEnglish
JournalCell
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - May 2025

Austrian Fields of Science 2012

  • 106021 Marine biology

Keywords

  • mycoplankton
  • suspended microchannel resonator
  • global biomass
  • calcofluor-white
  • oceanic fungi
  • CARD-FISH
  • ergosterol

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