Abstract. The ongoing increase in anthropogenic carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions is changing the global marine environment and is causing warming and acidification of the oceans. Reduction of CO2 to a sustainable level is required to avoid further marine change. Many studies investigate the potential of marine carbon sinks (e.g. seagrass) to mitigate anthropogenic emissions, however, information on storage by coralline algae and the beds they create is scant. Calcifying photosynthetic organisms, including coralline algae, can act as a CO2 sink via photosynthesis and CaCO3 dissolution and act as a CO2 source during respiration and CaCO3 production on short-term timescales. Long-term carbon storage potential might come from the accumulation of coralline algae deposits over geological timescales. Here, the carbon storage potential of coralline algae is assessed using meta-analysis of their global organic and inorganic carbon production and the processes involved in this metabolism. Net organic and inorganic production were estimated at 330 g C m−2 yr−1 and 900 g CaCO3 m−2 yr−1 respectively giving global organic/inorganic C production of 0.7/1.8 × 109 t C yr−1. Calcium carbonate production by free-living/crustose coralline algae (CCA) corresponded to a sediment accretion of 70/450 mm kyr−1. Using this potential carbon storage for coralline algae, the global production of free-living algae/CCA was 0.4/1.2 × 109 t C yr−1 suggesting a total potential carbon sink of 1.6 × 109 tonnes per year. Coralline algae therefore have production rates similar to mangroves, salt marshes and seagrasses representing an as yet unquantified but significant carbon store, however, further empirical investigations are needed to determine the dynamics and stability of that store.

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Background. The survival rates of patients with cancer by socioeconomic status (SES) has never been investigated in the Netherlands, a country characterized by good general access to health care services. The association between socioeconomic status and survival from cancer of the lung (n = 4591), breast (n = 3928), colorectum (n = 3558), prostate (n = 1484), and stomach (n = 1455) was studied, and the impact of some prognostic factors (stage at diagnosis, histologic type, and treatment) on this association was assessed. Methods. Subjects were patients who were diagnosed from 1980 to 1989 and included in the population‐based Eindhoven Cancer Registry in the Southeastern Netherlands. The patients were classified by socioeconomic status based on their postal code of residence at the time of diagnosis (3 or 5 categories). The follow‐up ended July 1, 1991, at which time relative survival rates and hazard ratios were calculated. Results. A more favorable relative survival for patients living in high SES areas was found for those with cancer of the lung, breast, colorectum, and prostate, whereas for those with stomach cancer, lower survival was found for patients living in high SES areas. For cancer of the lung, colorectum, and prostate, the socioeconomic variation in survival could not be explained by the distribution of the prognostic factors stage, histologic type, and treatment. For patients with breast and stomach cancer, the socioeconomic variation in survival could be ascribed mainly to differences in the percentage of patients diagnosed with a metastasis. Conclusions. Socioeconomic variation in survival from a number of common cancer sites exists in the Netherlands, despite the fairly equal access to health care services for different socioeconomic groups. Most of the variation could not be explained by the differential distribution of stage, histologic type, and treatment across SES categories. Cancer 1995;75:2946–53.

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