Global Algae Blooms from abrupt global warming: Mother Nature taking revenge against complex life

 A specialized adaptation in algae for enhancing CO₂ fixation is the carbon-concentrating mechanism (CCM), which helps reduce photorespiration—a process that decreases the efficiency of CO₂ fixation when oxygen competes with CO₂ for Rubisco binding sites [47]. The CCM uses specific transport proteins to import bicarbonate ions (HCO₃⁻) into algal cells, where carbonic anhydrase converts them into CO₂, enhancing the intracellular CO₂ concentration [91].

 AI:

Yes, the growth of phytoplankton in the ocean can contribute to a darkening of the photic zone, which is the sunlit layer of the ocean where photosynthesis occurs. This darkening occurs because phytoplankton absorb sunlight, and increased phytoplankton concentrations reduce the amount of light that penetrates deeper into the water column.

https://phys.org/news/2025-05-global-ocean-darker-vital-photic.html 

between 2003 and 2022, 21% of the global ocean—including large expanses of both coastal regions and the open ocean—had become darker.

In addition to this, more than 9% of the ocean—an area of more than 32 million sq km, similar in size to the continent of Africa—had seen photic zone depths reducing by more than 50 meters, while 2.6% saw the photic zone reduced by more than 100 m.

  the changes likely being as a result of a combination of nutrient, organic material and sediment loading near the coasts, caused by factors such as agricultural runoff and increased rainfall.

 yeah but also due to Ocean Heat Content

  such changes cause widespread darkening that reduces the amount of ocean available for animals that rely on the sun and the moon for their survival and reproduction....That could bring about fundamental changes in the entire marine ecosystem.

 Minimizing carbon footprint via microalgae as a biological capture

Microalgae have the ability to fix carbon dioxide 10-50 times more than other terrestrial plants (Batista et al., 2015). It has a rapid growth / multiplying rate (few hours), much greater than higher plants (Batista et al., 2015; Bennion et al., 2015; Brilman et al., 2013; Cheah et al., 2015).

Furthermore, microalgae have the potential to recycle CO₂ into bioenergy through photosynthesis, thus, highlighting that bioconversion of CO₂ using microalgae is an environmentally friendly and sustainable method (Brilman et al., 2013). Interestingly, bioconversion of CO₂ using microalgae has shown strong environmental flexibility. Its ability to tolerate and adapt to a variety of extreme environmental conditions enhances applicability (Moreira and Pires, 2016). They do not occupy arable land, which makes them suitable for cultivation in coastal beaches, saline-alkali lands, and deserts (Moreira and Pires, 2016).

Advances in microalgae-based carbon sequestration: Current status and future perspectives 

 converts inorganic carbon into organic molecules (carbohydrates) and releases molecular O₂ (Prasad et al., 2021). The schematic pathway of photosynthesis is illustrated in Fig. 2a,

 

 

The present review concluded that the efficacy of microalgae strains in CO₂ fixation ranges from 40 to 90 %, making it a sustainable solution for CO₂ sequestration.

 

  Recently, sinking macroalgae into the deep sea has even been proposed as an important carbon sequestration strategy to enhance ocean negative carbon emission (Ricart et al., 2022;

 Herbivore grazing enhances macroalgal organic carbon release and alters their carbon sequestration fate in the ocean