Eutrophication‐induced dinoflagellate succession contributes to marine carbon sequestration through refractory dissolved organic matter accumulation

Abstract The increasing eutrophication of coastal seas is causing a shift in the most important phytoplankton groups from diatoms to dinoflagellates, but its feedback to marine carbon cycling remains unclear. Here, we investigated the potential of the key coastal phytoplankton, the diatom Skeletonema costatum , and the dinoflagellate Prorocentrum donghaiense , for refractory dissolved organic carbon (DOC) accumulation over dark degradation incubations of 70 d. Our multi‐method approach showed that dinoflagellate detritus, rather than diatom detritus, significantly contributes to refractory DOC. This is evidenced by the fact that the detritus of dinoflagellates compared to that of diatoms (1) has a weaker transmittance in infrared spectrometry, indicating a lower content of labile organic substances (alcohol and amide groups); (2) has a higher release and/or transformation efficiency of particulate organic carbon to DOC (81% vs. 50%); (3) has a lower content of labile fraction, amino acid (8% vs. 17% carbon) and exhibits lower degradability of the DOC formed (23% vs. 30%); (4) has a lower content of labile compounds determined by Fourier transform ion cyclotron resonance mass spectrometry (maximum molecular lability boundary: 21% vs. 31%); and (5) has a higher proportion of refractory carboxylic‐rich alicyclic molecules (57% ± 0.5% vs. 51% ± 0.7%) over incubations. Our results emphasize that eutrophication‐triggered coastal dinoflagellate succession has a significant potential for positive feedback to carbon sequestration through the formation of refractory DOC.