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Logo SiS FVG
OGS - National Institute of Oceanography and Applied Geophysics
30 January 2026

The Role of Mixotrophs in Oceanic Carbon Accumulation

Mixotrophic plankton – organisms capable of combining photosynthesis with the ingestion of prey – absorb and sequester more carbon in the Ocean than organisms that rely on only one of these nutritional strategies. This increase, however, over very long timescales, may be partially offset by interactions with Ocean circulation, particularly in the North Atlantic.

These findings emerge from a study recently published in Biogeosciences by an international research group involving OGS, the School of Ocean and Earth Science (University of Southampton, UK), and the Earth, Ocean and Ecological Sciences Department (University of Liverpool, UK).