Editing Bicarbonate (section)

==Bicarbonate in the environment==
Bicarbonate is the dominant form of [[Total inorganic carbon|dissolved inorganic carbon]] in sea water,<ref>{{cite web|title=The chemistry of ocean acidification : OCB-OA|url=http://www.whoi.edu/OCB-OA/page.do?pid=112136|website=www.whoi.edu|publisher=Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution|access-date=17 May 2017|language=en-NZ|date=24 September 2012|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170519193604/http://www.whoi.edu/OCB-OA/page.do?pid=112136|archive-date=19 May 2017}}</ref> and in most fresh waters. As such it is an important sink in the [[carbon cycle]].

Some plants like ''[[Chara (alga)|Chara]]'' utilize carbonate and produce calcium carbonate ({{chem2|CaCO3}}) as a result of biological metabolism.<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Pełechaty|first1=Mariusz|last2=Pukacz|first2=Andrzej|last3=Apolinarska|first3=Karina|last4=Pełechata|first4=Aleksandra|last5=Siepak|first5=Marcin|date=June 2013|editor-last=Porta|editor-first=Giovanna Della|title=The significance of Chara vegetation in the precipitation of lacustrine calcium carbonate|url=https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/sed.12020|journal=Sedimentology|language=en|volume=60|issue=4|pages=1017–1035|doi=10.1111/sed.12020|bibcode=2013Sedim..60.1017P |s2cid=128758128 }}</ref>

In freshwater ecology, strong [[photosynthesis|photosynthetic]] activity by freshwater plants in daylight releases gaseous [[oxygen]] into the water and at the same time produces bicarbonate ions. These shift the pH upward until in certain circumstances the degree of alkalinity can become toxic to some organisms or can make other chemical constituents such as [[ammonia]] toxic. In darkness, when no photosynthesis occurs, respiration processes release carbon dioxide, and no new bicarbonate ions are produced, resulting in a rapid fall in pH.{{cn|date=July 2024}}

The flow of bicarbonate ions from rocks weathered by the carbonic acid in rainwater is an important part of the [[carbon cycle]].