A study published in July in the journal Biogeosciences Discussions estimated that a mere 80 sperm whales that live near Hawaii transport 1,100 tons (1 million kilograms) of nitrogen per year with the movement of their massive bodies through a boundary called the pycnocline, below which it is too dark for light-loving plants — the base of much of the ocean food chain — to survive.
That may seem like an unimpressive amount, but if you take the movement of all the animals throughout the ocean, it can add up. A 2006 study by Florida State University researcher William Dewar calculated that animals and other organisms are responsible for one-third of the mixing of the ocean, without which the sea would stagnate and likely turn into a virtually lifeless soup within a few thousand years. [World's Biggest Oceans and Seas]
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