https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-2020-64 Preprint. Discussion started: 19 March 2020 c Author(s) 2020. CC BY 4.0 License. 1 Reviews and syntheses: Bacterial bioluminescence – ecology and 2 impact in the biological carbon pump 3 Lisa Tanet1, Séverine Martini1, Laurie Casalot1, Christian Tamburini1 4 1Aix Marseille Univ., Université de Toulon, CNRS, IRD, MIO UM 110, 13288, Marseille, FranCe 5 Correspondence: Christian Tamburini (
[email protected]) 6 Abstract. Around thirty species of marine bacteria can emit light, a critical characteristic in the oceanic environment where 7 the major part is deprived of sunlight. In this article, we first review current knowledge on bioluminescent bacteria symbiosis 8 in light organs. Then, focusing on gut-associated bacteria, we highlight that recent works, based on omics methods, confirm 9 previous claims about the prominence of bioluminescent bacterial species in fish guts. Such host-symbiont relationships are 10 relatively well established and represent important knowledge in the bioluminescence field. However, the consequences of 11 bioluminescent bacteria continuously released from light organ and through the digestive tracts to the seawater have been 12 barely taken into account at the ecological and biogeochemical level. For too long neglected, we propose to consider the role 13 of bioluminescent bacteria, and to reconsider the biological carbon pump taking into account the bioluminescence effect 14 (“bioluminescence shunt hypothesis”). Indeed, it has been shown that marine snow and fecal pellets are often luminous due 15 to microbial colonization, which makes them a visual target. These luminous particles seem preferentially consumed by 16 organisms of higher trophic levels in comparison to non-luminous ones.