
Both of these processes lock up carbon from the environment, storing it in inedible gelatinous biomass or dissolved carbon dioxide. "Jellyfish are voracious predators," said lead author Rob Condon of the Dauphin Island Sea Lab (DISL) in Alabama, U.S. "They impact food webs by capturing plankton that would otherwise be eaten by fish and converting that food energy into gelatinous biomass. This restricts the transfer of energy up the food chain, because jellyfish are not readily consumed by other predators."
The new study, published in the current issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science, represents a breakthrough in our understanding of the effect of jellyfish blooms on marine ecology. Although some understanding on the relationship between jellyfish and microbial blooms existed previously, for the first time scientists were able to overcome the difficulties in quantifying this relationship….
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