The contributions of various calcifying plankton to the South Atlantic calcium carbonate stock

Kruijt, Anne L.; van Dijk, Robin; Sulpis, Olivier; Beaufort, Luc; Lassus, Guillaume; Brummer, Geert-Jan; van der Burg, A. Daniëlle; Cala, Ben A.; Ourradi, Yasmina; Peijnenburg, Katja T. C. A.; Humphreys, Matthew P.; Chaabane, Sonia; Sluijs, Appy; Middelburg, Jack J.

doi:10.5194/bg-23-531-2026

Articles | Volume 23, issue 2

https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-23-531-2026

© Author(s) 2026. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-23-531-2026

© Author(s) 2026. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Articles | Volume 23, issue 2

Research article

|

20 Jan 2026

Research article |

| 20 Jan 2026

The contributions of various calcifying plankton to the South Atlantic calcium carbonate stock

Anne L. Kruijt, Robin van Dijk, Olivier Sulpis, Luc Beaufort, Guillaume Lassus, Geert-Jan Brummer, A. Daniëlle van der Burg, Ben A. Cala, Yasmina Ourradi, Katja T. C. A. Peijnenburg, Matthew P. Humphreys, Sonia Chaabane, Appy Sluijs, and Jack J. Middelburg

Data sets

Calcifying_plankton_paper/Data_files Anne L. Kruijt https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.17963943

OCEANCOLOUR_GLO_BGC_L4_MY_009_104: Global ocean colour (Copernicus-GlobColour), bio-geo-chemical, L4 (monthly and interpolated) from satellite observations (1997-ongoing) European Union-Copernicus Marine Service (CMEMS) https://doi.org/10.48670/moi-00281

GLOBAL_ANALYSISFORECAST_PHY_001_024: Global Ocean 1/12° Physics Analysis and Forecast updated Daily European Union-Copernicus Marine Service (CMEMS) https://doi.org/10.48670/moi-00016

The GEBCO_2022 Grid - a continuous terrain model of the global oceans and land GEBCO Compilation Group https://doi.org/10.5285/e0f0bb80-ab44-2739-e053-6c86abc0289c

Short summary

We measured the three main types of plankton that produce calcium carbonate in the ocean, at the same time and location. While coccolithophores were the biggest contributors, we found that planktonic gastropods, not foraminifera, were the second largest contributor. This challenges the current view and improves our understanding of how these organisms influence oceans’ carbon cycling.