Editorial: The biological pump: a hunt for microbial key players involved in ocean carbon and nutrient fluxes

Editorial on the Research Topic The biological pump: a hunt for microbial key players involved in ocean carbon and nutrient fluxes.

The Earth's oceans cover ~71% of the planet's surface and account for approximately 97% of the world's free water (Durack, 2015). The ocean supports a wide range of life forms whose growth and sustenance are regulated by nutrient availability (Fernández-González et al., 2022). This Research Topic comprises 10 articles that advance our understanding of the functioning of the complex oceanic biological carbon pump (BCP), addressing the relationship between living microbes and their surrounding environment. These microbes transform organic matter and recycle nutrients across diverse oceanic realms.