CAN WILDFIRE ASH BE A POSITIVE FOR THE ENVIRONMENT ? : HERE'S AN ALTERNATIVE OPINION BASED ON RESEARCH

KCLU ORG : WILDFIRE ASH PROVIDES NUTRIENTS 

Excerpt: Debris and ash created issues for many of the region’s waterways. The first instinct is that it might also be a major form of toxic pollution for the ocean. But, researchers say they’ve discovered ash could actually be beneficial.

"There were metals, which can be good or bad, toxic or beneficial for organisms, and then there were a bunch of nutrients that phytoplankton use to grow," said Tanika Ladd.

In this UC Santa Barbara Current  article it's revealed that the ash and debris could be a positive for the ocean's tiniest creatures but negative for fresh waterways....

NEWS UCSB THOMAS FIRE RESEARCH RESULTS

PYTOPLANKTON and ZOOPLANKTON are BIOLOGICAL PUMPS OF THE OCEAN

AMAGEST : NEW STUDY FINDS HOW OCEANS ABSORB CARBON DIOXIDE

Researchers from the University of California, Santa Barbara, analyzed data of ocean life and observed how the organic matters are used in producing carbon dioxide inside water.
Director of the Earth Research Institute at University of California, Oceanographer David Siegel, and his colleagues analyzed the role of excrement from phytoplankton and zooplankton.

Pytoplankton and zooplankton are tiny little animals placed at the bottom of the food chain.

The new study is published in the Global Biogeochemical Cycles journal titled as “Global assessment of ocean carbon export by combining satellite observations and food-web models.”

Researchers say the biological pump of the ocean export organic carbon into the deep ocean from the upper part through sinking particulate matter and mostly from the zooplankton feces and aggregates of algae.