Among ecologists, carbon gets all the glory. Scientists examine its critical role in plant growth and decay, they chart its contributions to greenhouse gases, and they measure its sequestration in earth, sea, and sky.
Often overlooked in all this research is the humble element silicon, or “silica,” as it’s called when found in nature. If ecologists (or biologists or biogeochemists) think of silica at all, they regard it as a bit player, a ho-hum component of rocks and sand.
Among ecologists, carbon gets all the glory. Scientists examine its critical role in plant growth and decay, they chart its contributions to greenhouse gases, and they measure its sequestration in earth, sea, and sky.
Often overlooked in all this research is the humble element silicon, or “silica,” as it’s called when found in nature. If ecologists (or biologists or biogeochemists) think of silica at all, they regard it as a bit player, a ho-hum component of rocks and sand.
“Silica gets no love,” says Wally Fulweiler, a Boston University associate professor of earth and environment, and biology. “And it should.”
Fulweiler notes that silica is a key player in marsh and ocean ecosystems. Notably, it forms the outer shells of diatoms, microscopic organisms that serve as deep-sea storage vessels for carbon dioxide. “Over a longtime scale, diatoms are important for regulating our global climate,” says Fulweiler. “So if you’re an oceanographer, you love silica. But if you’re, say, a forest ecologist, you probably don’t think much about silica, and you definitely don’t think much about how human activities have altered silica cycling.”
Read more at Boston University
Photo courtesy of Maguire
