• moodoovoodoo@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    44
    ·
    2 days ago

    It’s more like 50-60% and it depends on who’s doing the breathing - the vast majority of O2 generated by phytoplankton doesn’t become atmospheric O2 - it stays in the ocean. So yeah, us terrestrials would see terrestrial 02 producers as our glam rock stars.

    • testaccount372920@piefed.zip
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      13
      ·
      1 day ago

      Wouldn’t the ocean drain oxygen produced by trees if phytoplankton didn’t exist? It seems to me that both move oxygen into the same system, earth.

      • moodoovoodoo@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        17
        ·
        1 day ago

        If phytoplankton didn’t exist, the things removing pure 02 from the ocean through respiration would die. In which case, the ocean would reach O2 solubility equilibrium at a fraction of a percent of atmospheric O2 and would stop uptaking it because there’s nothing left to continue converting it to CO2.