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[–] 46 points 2 months ago (2 children)

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.

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  • [–] 14 points 2 months ago (1 child)

    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.

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  • [–] 18 points 2 months 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.

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