Aquatic Ecosystems: Marine
At the international level, the carbon dioxide system in estuary and seashore waters has not been widely studied. However, although there is little information, model-generated data suggests that coastal regions can collect between 0.6 and 0.8 Gt C per year-1; 18% out of this amount is found in the North American region. Studies of Mexican seas conducted by Mexican scholars are very new, therefore it is not surprising that little information about the carbon cycle is available. In Annex 3 you will find questions related to the aquatic component.
To date, most research on processes related to the carbon cycle has focused on establishing primary productivity rates for phytoplankton along the coastline, rather than in ocean waters; this represents the information for one of the carbon reservoirs. However, although work has been done in the area of re-structuring primary productivity for phytoplankton, the response of the biological bomb (carbon abduction) to climate variation and to anthropogenic impact is unknown in all marine systems. It is important to mention that in this line of research, while most of the work has been carried out in the Mexican part of the Pacific Ocean –approximately one hundred research projects- very little has been done in the Gulf of Mexico. In addition, wide areas of the continental edges such as tropical and subtropical regions are still completely unknown.
The dynamics of the CO2 system in the ocean and the CO2 absorption processes through water-atmosphere interface are unknown. Published data indicates that approximately only six studies have been conducted, most of which have focused on the Gulf of California (1978-2003). However, available data is significantly less if one considers that calibration standards for CO2 totals were only made available to world markets for the first time in 1994 it was only then that the scientific community began to establish measures within the parameters describing the CO2 system.
The role of the components of particle-divided and liquidized carbon is unknown. There is no proper quantification of the size of the reservoirs, let alone the exchange rate between the reservoirs themselves (pelagic, mesopelagic and benthonic. The pelagic system is the most studied, followed by the mesoplagic, which has nevertheless been very poorly researched; and the benthonic system, for which there are even fewer studies.
As for carbon flows, with the exception of the primary productivity rate of phytoplankton, there is no information concerning carbon flows via the trophic chain (grazing), and we have no data for vertical flows from the pelagic to the benthonic system. The role of bacteria in such processes as remineralization is completely unknown. We know very little about the contribution of bacteria to macro-weed and swamps, and very little in general concerning the contribution of benthonic system flora to oceanic carbon balance.
We have neither appropriate human resources nor infrastructure to study many of the areas related to the carbon cycle. In addition, there has been an actual separation between physics and biogeochemical sciences. For a long time we have had a shortage of appropriate platforms (research ships) and, in many cases, a shortage of necessary instruments for sustained observation of oceanographic conditions. Operational resources have been, generally speaking, very poor.
