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Research ArticlesRole of Marine Biology in Glacial-Interglacial CO2 Cycles  
It has been hypothesized that changes in the marine biological pump caused a major portion of the glacial reduction of atmospheric carbon dioxide by 80 to 100 parts per million through increased iron fertilization of marine plankton, increased ocean nutrient content or utilization, or shifts in dominant plankton types. We analyze sedimentary records of marine productivity at the peak and the middle of the last glacial cycle and show that neither changes in nutrient utilization in the Southern Ocean nor shifts in plankton dominance explain the CO2 drawdown. Iron fertilization and associated mechanisms can be responsible for no more than half the observed drawdown.
1 Max Planck Institute for Biogeochemistry, Jena, Germany.
* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: office{at}kohfeld.com
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Present address: School of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Queens College of City University of New York, Flushing, NY 11367, USA. 
Present address: University of East Anglia and the British Antarctic Survey, UK. 
Present address: School of Geographical Sciences, University of Bristol, Bristol, UK. 
Science. ISSN 0036-8075 (print), 1095-9203 (online)
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