The contribution of pelagic fungi to ocean biomass

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.

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Publication Details

Journal
Cell
Published
2025-05-23
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cell.2025.05.004
Citations
6
Primary Topic
Microbial Community Ecology and Physiology
Type
article
Field-Weighted Citation Impact
10.30

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article

The contribution of pelagic fungi to ocean biomass

Antonio Fuentes‐Lema, Cristina Sobrino, Eva Breyer, Federico Baltar et al.
6 citations
Cell
Microbial Community Ecology and Physiology
10.30
article

The contribution of pelagic fungi to ocean biomass

Antonio Fuentes‐Lema, Cristina Sobrino, Eva Breyer, Federico Baltar, Chie Amano, Franz Berthiller, Benjamin R. K. Roller, Martin F. Polz, Jordi Dachs, Naiara Berrojalbiz, Maria Vila‐Costa, Guillem Coll-García, Constanze Stix, Sophie Kilker, Fragkiski Panagou, Charlotte Doebke, D. Saavedra, Barbara Steger-Mähnert
article en
6 citations

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.

CellVol. 188(15)
University of Vienna (AT), Mediterranean Institute for Advanced Studies (ES), Institute of Environmental Assessment and Water Research (ES), Shanghai Ocean University (CN), Universidade de Vigo (ES)
Simons Foundation, Austrian Science Fund
Life below water
Openalex Percentile: Top 2%
Microbial Community Ecology and Physiology
10.30
DOIOpen Access PDFOpenAlex
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