The fungal blind spot: Why marine carbon models ignore a key player
Marlis Reich · 2026
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Description
Marlis Reich wrote a 2026 primer article in PLOS Biology arguing that ocean carbon models overlook a major player: marine fungi. For decades, sea carbon cycling research focused on bacteria and other simple microbes, assuming fungi were minor. Fungi in the ocean are microscopic and hard to detect, so they were systematically neglected.
A new study by Trejos-Espeleta and colleagues, which this primer explains, shows fungi can dominate the uptake of labile dissolved organic matter, the fresh, easy-to-eat carbon in seawater. That flips the old assumption that such food belonged to bacteria alone. If fungi truly lead this uptake, models of how the ocean stores carbon need rethinking, Reich argues.
Catalog record
| CREATOR | Marlis Reich |
|---|---|
| YEAR | 2026 |
| COLLECTION | PAPERS |
| FORMAT | TXT |
| FILE SIZE | 6616 |
| LICENSE | https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0 |
| RIGHTS | CC BY |
| SOURCE | Europe PMC |