<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!DOCTYPE article PUBLIC "-//NLM//DTD Journal Publishing DTD v3.0 20080202//EN" "https://jats.nlm.nih.gov/nlm-dtd/publishing/3.0/journalpublishing3.dtd">
<article xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink" article-type="research-article" specific-use="SMUR" dtd-version="3.0" xml:lang="en">
<front>
<journal-meta>
<journal-id journal-id-type="publisher">EGUsphere</journal-id>
<journal-title-group>
<journal-title>EGUsphere</journal-title>
<abbrev-journal-title abbrev-type="publisher">EGUsphere</abbrev-journal-title>
<abbrev-journal-title abbrev-type="nlm-ta">EGUsphere</abbrev-journal-title>
</journal-title-group>
<issn pub-type="epub"></issn>
<publisher><publisher-name>Copernicus Publications</publisher-name>
<publisher-loc>Göttingen, Germany</publisher-loc>
</publisher>
</journal-meta>
<article-meta>
<article-id pub-id-type="doi">10.5194/egusphere-2025-4822</article-id>
<title-group>
<article-title>A mechanistic model of hypoxia-driven benthic carbon cycling integrating microbial energetics and faunal mortality</article-title>
</title-group>
<contrib-group><contrib contrib-type="author" xlink:type="simple"><name name-style="western"><surname>Ishizuka</surname>
<given-names>Kota</given-names>
</name>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff1">
<sup>1</sup>
</xref>
</contrib>
<contrib contrib-type="author" xlink:type="simple"><name name-style="western"><surname>Sohma</surname>
<given-names>Akio</given-names>
</name>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff1">
<sup>1</sup>
</xref>
</contrib>
</contrib-group><aff id="aff1">
<label>1</label>
<addr-line>Graduate School of Engineering, Osaka Metropolitan University, 3-3-138 Sugimoto, Sumiyoshi-ku, Osaka 558-8585, Japan</addr-line>
</aff>
<pub-date pub-type="epub">
<day>20</day>
<month>10</month>
<year>2025</year>
</pub-date>
<volume>2025</volume>
<fpage>1</fpage>
<lpage>37</lpage>
<permissions>
<copyright-statement>Copyright: &#x000a9; 2025 Kota Ishizuka</copyright-statement>
<copyright-year>2025</copyright-year>
<license license-type="open-access">
<license-p>This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. To view a copy of this licence, visit <ext-link ext-link-type="uri"  xlink:href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/</ext-link></license-p>
</license>
</permissions>
<self-uri xlink:href="https://egusphere.copernicus.org/preprints/2025/egusphere-2025-4822/">This article is available from https://egusphere.copernicus.org/preprints/2025/egusphere-2025-4822/</self-uri>
<self-uri xlink:href="https://egusphere.copernicus.org/preprints/2025/egusphere-2025-4822/egusphere-2025-4822.pdf">The full text article is available as a PDF file from https://egusphere.copernicus.org/preprints/2025/egusphere-2025-4822/egusphere-2025-4822.pdf</self-uri>
<abstract>
<p>Hypoxia reduces the mineralization of organic detritus and increases mortality in benthic fauna, both of which alter carbon storage through complex changes in organic matter and calcium carbonate (CaCO₃) dynamics. To mechanistically assess these processes, we developed a new model that links oxic, suboxic, and anoxic mineralization pathways to microbial ATP production efficiency. This formulation was incorporated into the benthic&amp;ndash;pelagic coupled model EMAGIN-B.C., resulting in an extended version designated EMAGIN-B.C.-MR (MR: mineralization rate). The model also includes revised mortality and metabolic suppression functions for benthic fauna under oxygen-deficient conditions and explicitly couples suspension-feeding benthos biomass with CaCO₃ production and burial fluxes. We applied EMAGIN-B.C.-MR to Tokyo Bay, a eutrophic coastal system prone to seasonal hypoxia, to simulate long-term changes in carbon cycling under hypoxic (0 mg L⁻&amp;sup1;) and non-hypoxic (5 mg L⁻&amp;sup1;) summer conditions. Results showed that hypoxia enhanced detritus storage and burial by both suppressing microbial degradation and reducing bioturbation and grazing due to suspension-feeding benthos mortality. Conversely, CaCO₃ production and burial declined owing to inhibited shell formation. These dynamics revealed that total carbon storage is shaped by interacting biogeochemical and ecological feedbacks, resulting in nonlinear trajectories under repeated hypoxic stress over decadal timescales. By integrating microbial energetics and oxygen-sensitive faunal responses, the EMAGIN-B.C.-MR model provides a mechanistic framework for assessing benthic carbon cycling under deoxygenation. This framework offers biogeochemical insights into the regulation of organic and inorganic carbon burial balance by oxygen availability &amp;ndash; with implications for coastal carbon budgets, blue carbon management, and climate feedbacks &amp;ndash; and is applicable to other oxygen-deficient environments such as eutrophic estuaries and semi-enclosed seas.</p>
</abstract>
<counts><page-count count="37"/></counts>
<funding-group>
<award-group id="gs1">
<funding-source>Environmental Restoration and Conservation Agency</funding-source>
<award-id>JPMEERF24S12312</award-id>
</award-group>
<award-group id="gs2">
<funding-source>Fisheries Agency</funding-source>
<award-id>Nil</award-id>
</award-group>
<award-group id="gs3">
<funding-source>Japan Society for the Promotion of Science</funding-source>
<award-id>18K04409</award-id>
</award-group>
</funding-group>
</article-meta>
</front>
<body/>
<back>
</back>
</article>