Whale poop liberates nutrients locked up in krill that phytoplankton need - (the article mentions iron, a trace element essential for photosynthesis). Phytopla

Whale poop liberates nutrients locked up in krill that phytoplankton need - (the article mentions iron, a trace element essential for photosynthesis). Phytoplankton convert sunlight and dissolved CO2 into biomass, krill eat phytoplankton, baleen whales eat krill. So the role of the whale poop is fertilisation. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iron_fertilization https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iron_fertilization