The bacteria that decompose the phytoplankton deplete the oxygen in the water, suffocating animal life; the result is a dead zone. Through photosynthesis, phytoplankton consume carbon dioxide on a scale equivalent to forests and other land plants.
How much have phytoplankton declined?
Researchers at Canada's Dalhousie University say the global population of phytoplankton has fallen about 40 percent since 1950. That translates to an annual drop of about 1 percent of the average plankton population between 1899 and 2008.
How does phytoplankton affect the aquatic food chain?
The base of the entire aquatic food chain is the phytoplankton. Essentially what plants do on land, phytoplankton does in the ocean. It is the foundation on which the entire aquatic life is built. Any threat to this species would ultimately lead to a complete collapse of aquatic life.
Why is phytoplankton dangerous to humans?
Phytoplankton can also be the harbingers of death or disease. Certain species of phytoplankton produce powerful biotoxins, making them responsible for so-called “red tides,” or harmful algal blooms. These toxic blooms can kill marine life and people who eat contaminated seafood.
What would happen if the phytoplankton population crashed?
If the phytoplankton were to indeed die, it would be the end of almost all marine life on Earth. With that, a major source of our food would disappear.
How do phytoplankton affect your life?
Importance of phytoplankton Certain species of phytoplankton produce powerful biotoxins, making them responsible for so-called “red tides,” or harmful algal blooms. These toxic blooms can kill marine life and people who eat contaminated seafood. Phytoplankton cause mass mortality in other ways.
Why is phytoplankton important to life on Earth?
Through photosynthesis, phytoplankton use sunlight, nutrients, carbon dioxide, and water to produce oxygen and nutrients for other organisms. With 71% of the Earth covered by the ocean, phytoplankton are responsible for producing up to 50% of the oxygen we breathe.
How does phytoplankton affect the environment?
Phytoplankton has an impact on climate change by reducing atmospheric CO2 levels through the sinking of produced organic and inorganic matter to the deep ocean. Climate change or more specifically global warming, with consequences of elevated seawater temperatures and decreased pH levels, undoubtedly ...
What would happen if phytoplankton went extinct?
A sudden disappearance of phytoplankton would lead to the complete collapse of the aquatic ecosystem. In addition, if all the plankton disappeared it would increase the levels of carbon in our air, thus further accelerating climate change.
What are the benefits of phytoplankton?
Phytoplankton offers a broad spectrum of minerals that come from the sea – magnesium, phosphorus, potassium, calcium, iron and zinc. These minerals promote good health and wellness; they are also responsible for maintaining, or assisting with, body functions that are required to sustain life.
What is phytoplankton and why is it so important?
Phytoplankton is the base of several aquatic food webs. In a balanced ecosystem, they provide food for a wide range of sea creatures. Phytoplankton, also known as microalgae, are similar to terrestrial plants in that they contain chlorophyll and require sunlight in order to live and grow.
What does phytoplankton provide us with?
Phytoplankton account for about half of the photosynthesis on the planet, making them one of the world's most important producers of oxygen.
Do humans need plankton to survive?
We might not be able to see plankton, or even recognize it if shown an image, but these often tiny ocean-dwelling organisms are an essential part of our lives. From the food we eat to the air we breathe, plankton help produce and sustain all life on Earth.
What would happen if the algae population decreased?
Without algae, bacteria would have become the basis of the ocean food chain. Such an ecosystem would have been vulnerable, presumably wobbling along until some tipping point brought all the other pins tumbling down.
Why is phytoplankton decreasing?
Indeed, Worm's team estimates that phytoplankton numbers have plummeted 40% since 1950. What's more, the team found that phytoplankton numbers were more likely to dwindle in areas of the ocean that were warming, suggesting that climate change is responsible for the drop.
Can phytoplankton solve climate change?
By taking up carbon dioxide (CO2) from the air, phytoplankton play a large role in the natural carbon cycle, helping to regulate the amount of CO2 in the atmosphere and keep the Earth's climate in balance.
Is plankton harmful to humans?
Most phytoplankton are harmless to animals. However, a few species can produce toxic, or poisonous, chemicals. Some dinoflagellates and diatoms can make poisonous compounds that cause diarrhea, paralysis, dizziness, and even memory loss.
How would humans specifically be affected if phytoplankton were to disappear?
Plankton are the base of the marine food web, without them all larger organisms will probably die. No plankton=no fish= no food for millions of people. Without ocean life millions (if not billions) of people will start to starve.
Why is it important to to study phytoplankton from space?
Why are they important? Phytoplankton are some of Earth's most critical organisms and so it is vital study and understand them. They generate about half the atmosphere's oxygen, as much per year as all land plants. Phytoplankton also form the base of virtually every ocean food web.
What is killing phytoplankton?
When blooms eventually exhaust their nutrients, the phytoplankton die, sink and decompose. The decomposition process depletes surrounding waters of available oxygen, which marine animals need to survive.
Oxygen
Phytoplankton are responsible for over 50% of all the oxygen in our atmoshpere.
Food
All the food in the ocean is ultimately produced by phytoplankton. Through photosynthesis, they produce carbohydrates which are in turn consumed by small fishes. These fishes are then consumed by larger fishes and so on.
Carbon Sequestration
Another important contribution of the phytoplankton is the fact that they sequester (remove and store) a large amount of atmospheric carbon. This reduces atmospheric carbon content and thereby mitigates the greenhouse gas effect.
Warming of the ocean
As the planet heats up, so does the water in our oceans. According to NASA, a warming ocean reduces the mixing between surface water and deeper nutrient-rich water in the oceans. This reduces the nutrients available near the surface. Hence, there are lesser nutrients available in the phytoplankton-rich top surface of the water.
Ocean Acidification
The increased carbon dioxide in the atmosphere increases the dissolved carbon dioxide in the ocean water. This further increases the acidic levels of the ocean. The pH levels of the oceans have already dropped significantly and a further drop is expected by the 2100s.
Increased Salinity
Climate change has increased ocean salinity by nearly 4%. While this figure may seem small, it is important to understand the vastness of the oceans. Causing a 4% shift in such a quantity of water would require significant greenhouse gas emissions. Unfortunately, we have done just that.
How does phytoplankton cause mass mortality?
Phytoplankton cause mass mortality in other ways. In the aftermath of a massive bloom, dead phytoplankton sink to the ocean or lake floor. The bacteria that decompose the phytoplankton deplete the oxygen in the water, suffocating animal life; the result is a dead zone.
Why does phytoplankton productivity drop?
Productivity is expected to drop because as the surface waters warm, the water column becomes increasingly stratified; there is less vertical mixing to recycle nutrients from deep waters back to the surface.
What are Phytoplankton?
Derived from the Greek words phyto (plant) and plankton (made to wander or drift), phytoplankton are microscopic organisms that live in watery environments, both salty and fresh.
Why are phytoplankton scarce in the ocean?
By contrast, phytoplankton are scarce in remote ocean gyres due to nutrient limitations.
How do phytoplankton use photosynthesis?
Like land plants, phytoplankton have chlorophyll to capture sunlight, and they use photosynthesis to turn it into chemical energy. They consume carbon dioxide, and release oxygen. All phytoplankton photosynthesize, but some get additional energy by consuming other organisms. Phytoplankton growth depends on the availability of carbon dioxide, ...
What are the factors that affect phytoplankton growth?
Other factors influence phytoplankton growth rates, including water temperature and salinity, water depth, wind, and what kinds of predators are grazing on them.
How long does a phytoplankton bloom last?
Blooms in the ocean may cover hundreds of square kilometers and are easily visible in satellite images. A bloom may last several weeks, but the life span of any individual phytoplankton is rarely more than a few days.
How does phytoplankton affect the ocean?
In addition to consuming CO2, phytoplankton can influence how much heat is absorbed by the world's oceans, and some species emit sulfate molecules that promote cloud formation. A continuing mystery story.
How much has the global population of phytoplankton fallen since 1950?
Researchers at Canada's Dalhousie University say the global population of phytoplankton has fallen about 40 percent since 1950. That translates to an annual drop of about 1 percent of the average plankton population between 1899 and 2008. The scientists believe that rising sea surface temperatures are to blame.
Where is the most evidence of phytoplankton decline?
The researchers found the most notable phytoplankton declines in waters near the poles and in the tropics, as well as the open ocean.
Where do phytoplankton live?
That can be used as a proxy for phytoplankton population in a given area, since the tiny organisms live close to the ocean's surface , where they are exposed to sunlight they use to produce energy.
What are the microscopic organisms that form the foundation of the ocean's food web?
The tiny organisms, known as phytoplankton, also gobble up carbon dioxide to produce half the world's oxygen output—equaling that of trees and plants on land.
Why is phytoplankton's productivity declining?
Matthew Osman, the paper's lead author and a graduate student in MIT's Department of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences and the MIT/WHOI Joint Program in Oceanography, says there are indications that phytoplankton's productivity may decline further as temperatures continue to rise as a result of human-induced climate change.
What is the decline of phytoplankton?
Phytoplankton decline coincides with warming temperatures over the last 150 years. Matt Osman, a graduate student in MIT’s Department of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences, overlooking a frozen Baffin Bay to the west, Nuussuaq Peninsula Ice Cap, west Greenland. Credit: Luke Trusel (Rowan University)
What is the compound used to measure phytoplankton productivity?
Osman and his colleagues looked for trends in phytoplankton's productivity using the molecular compound methanesulfonic acid, or MSA. When phytoplankton expand into large blooms, certain microbes emit dimethylsulfide, or DMS, an aerosol that is lofted into the atmosphere and eventually breaks down as either sulfate aerosol, or MSA, which is then deposited on sea or land surfaces by winds.
What is the multicentury decline in phytoplankton productivity?
The multicentury decline in phytoplankton productivity appears to coincide not only with concurrent long-term warming temperatures ; it also shows synchronous variations on decadal time-scales with the large-scale ocean circulation pattern known as the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation, or AMOC. This circulation pattern typically acts to mix layers of the deep ocean with the surface, allowing the exchange of much-needed nutrients on which phytoplankton feed.
How much has phytoplankton gone down?
In a paper appearing today in Nature, the researchers report that phytoplankton's productivity in this important region has gone down around 10 percent since the mid-19th century and the start of the Industrial era. This decline coincides with steadily rising surface temperatures over the same period of time.
Why is the AMOC system weak?
In recent years, scientists have found evidence that AMOC is weakening, a process that is still not well-understood but may be due in part to warming temperatures increasing the melting of Greenland's ice. This ice melt has added an influx of less-dense freshwater to the North Atlantic, which acts to stratify, or separate its layers, much like oil and water, preventing nutrients in the deep from upwelling to the surface. This warming-induced weakening of the ocean circulation could be what is driving phytoplankton's decline. As the atmosphere warms the upper ocean in general, this could also further the ocean's stratification, worsening phytoplankton's productivity.
How does marine life work?
Virtually all marine life depends on the productivity of phytoplankton—microscopic organisms that work tirelessly at the ocean's surface to absorb the carbon dioxide that gets dissolved into the upper ocean from the atmosphere. Through photosynthesis, these microbes break down carbon dioxide into oxygen, some of which ultimately gets released back ...
What causes the decline in phytoplankton productivity?
Cycling of Energy & Matter. NASA scientists observe a trend of warming sea surface temperatures, which cause a global decline in phytoplankton productivity. In general, the reverse situation is also true: where temperatures cooled, productivity rose.
Why are phytoplankton more abundant in the ocean than other species?
This is why phytoplankton are much more abundant in some areas of the ocean compared to others. Phytoplankton need similar nutrients to land plants. Important nutrients include nitrate , phosphate , silicate, and calcium at various levels depending on the species. These nutrients can come from the following sources.
What are Phytoplankton?
Derived from the Greek words phyto (plant) and plankton (made to wander or drift), phytoplankton are microscopic organisms that live in watery environments, both salty and fresh.
Why are Phytoplankton Important in the Earth System?
Phytoplankton—tiny, plant-like cells that turn sunlight into food—are responsible for nearly half of the planet’s primary production. That is, they transform carbon dioxide, sunlight, and nutrients into organic matter.
How Do We Measure Phytoplankton?
The oceans cover 70 percent of Earth. Because those waters are too vast for anyone to explore completely and too opaque to see through with cameras, we still have a lot to learn about them. One thing we do know is that the ocean is teeming with floating, drifting life, mostly microscopic.
Why is carbon dioxide plentiful in the ocean?
Carbon dioxide is plentiful in the ocean. Whenever the supply in the surface waters goes down because the phytoplankton have used it during photosynthesis, it is replenished from the atmosphere above. They consume carbon dioxide and release oxygen.
Why do scientists use NASA satellites?
Scientists use NASA satellites to generate chlorophyll maps like this to analyze phytoplankton distribution over the global ocean.
What is the decline of plankton?
Plankton decline hits marine food chain. Plankton is the basis for the entire marine food web - and it is under threat. From the Mediterranean to the Pacific, animals have been struggling to survive, due apparently to changes with plankton.
Why do plankton lose their quality?
As Saraux explained, plankton consume nutriments that arrive to the sea from rivers and wind, so changes in natural currents - facilitated by climate change - may also cause a loss of quality of plankton. The third option, pollution, is mainly a result of human activities.
Why does plankton change?
Saraux said it's not easy to determine why plankton changes. "But there are three main possibilities: the water temperature, a lack of nutriments or pollution ."
How have sardines and anchovies been affected?
Sardines and anchovies have been affected by changes in plankton. Over the past 10 years, the biomass of sardines - that is, the combined weight of all the fish - in the Mediterranean Sea has decreased from 200,000 tons to less than 67,000 tons. The biomass of anchovies has decreased in same proportions.
Why are sardines declining?
Across the world from the Mediterranean Sea, on the Pacific Coast of California, sardines and anchovies have also declined over the past decade - as a result of less plankton, a study speculates. There, scientists have looked at how sea lions are struggling to forage.
Why is it important to determine the cause of plankton variation?
For Saraux, determining the cause behind plankton variation is key to forecasting future scenarios. "If natural changes in wind currents are the reason, the situation may become stable again," she explained.
How does plankton affect the food chain?
For plankton, both quantity and quality - in terms of nutrients - affect life up the food chain. "If the quantity of plankton is the same but less nutritious, the next animals on the chain will be weaker and smaller," Claire Saraux, researcher at the French Research Institute for Exploitation of the Sea, explained to DW.
What would happen if the phytoplankton of an ocean was completely destroyed?
What would happen if the phytoplankton of an ocean was completely destroyed for some reason I believe that would be the end of all those species on ocean that feed themselves of phytoplankton mostly, fishes and with them many others that feed themselves of fishes, but despite this immense tragedy life would continue existing on the others two elements of Earth, that are earth and air, because if on the case of Man this one can vary his diet, letting to eat fish he still would continue having food that are all those species that he finds on those two elements that are earth and air.
What are the limiting elements for phytoplankton?
Like any other plants, phytoplankton need sunlight, CO2, water and nutrients to grow. On land, the limiting element (the one you run out of first) is mostly water. On the other hand, in the ocean, the limiting element is often a particular nutrient.
How much oxygen does phytoplankton produce?
Well, scientists believe that phytoplankton contribute between 50 to 85 percent of the oxygen in Earth’s atmosphere. Why between you say? Well it's actually very difficult to calculate the oxygen that all phytoplanktons generate, because we don't know how much is there to be honest.
What percentage of the world's oxygen is released by phytoplankton?
But what they can do, is calculate the oxygen released from phytoplanktons in lab experiments. So the range was determined to be between 50–85 percent. So let's say it contributes to about 70 percent of the world's free oxygen.
Why is high salinity water important?
So usually we relate high salinity water to more productivity because in general high saline waters are nutrient rich.
How does salinity affect the ocean?
This can affect the movement of ocean currents. It can also affect marine life, who may need to regulate their intake of salt water.
Is salinity good for phytoplankton?
There is no direct relation between salinity and phytoplankton productivity. But however saline water are good in terms of phytoplankton productivity. Let me explain.
