Selfish foraging, by limiting glycan availability to the microbial community, may serve as a key mechanism that influences whether glycans are stabilized and contribute to carbon sequestration in the ocean. This project aims to discover if bacterial selfish mode increases or decreases the efficiency of glycan degradation. It will determine if the selfish mechanism helps retain glycans within dissolved or particulate organic carbon pools, potentially enhancing the ocean’s ability to store carbon. A3 SELFISH will investigate the quantitative contributions of the selfish mechanism to carbon sequestration.