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"Next Year's News This Week" A DIRE WARNING FROM THE OCEAN'S PHYTOPLANKTON By Berit Anderson ______ Why Read: For humans around the world who spend all their days on land, the ocean is "out of sight, out of mind." It is easy to forget that the health of our children and grandchildren - the air they will breathe and the food they will eat - is directly dependent on the health of the ocean, which currently absorbs 30% of global CO2 emissions. Today, research on phytoplankton - the workhorses of that CO2 absorption - suggests that up to 50% are at risk of transforming from carbon sinks into carbon emitters, with the entire phytoplankton population already becoming significantly less productive. The urgency to reduce emissions and improve ocean health has never been greater. Read on for a compilation of research on these critical oxygen producers and what we can do to ameliorate the situation. ______ Marine phytoplankton play a central role in supporting life in the oceans and profoundly affect global biogeochemical cycles. - Research Article, Advancing Earth and Space Sciences (4/30/21)
Last year, I asked a colleague - an expert in oceans and marine biology - whether we shouldn't be worried about the fact that the ocean is currently responsible for 30% of global carbon capture and very clearly at risk of destabilization. Is there not a risk, I wondered, of a mass phytoplankton die-off due to rising temperatures, acidification, or some unholy combination of the two? And if that happened, what would be the impacts? Would it throw off the equilibrium of ocean health enough to cause a mass extinction event of marine flora and fauna? How much of the ocean's plankton population would be affected? At the time, my colleague seemed unconcerned about that particular outcome, reminding me that phytoplankton can survive in a wide range of temperatures, from the arctic to the tropics. I left that conversation feeling somewhat comforted (I deeply trust this person's perspective and intelligence) but also disquieted. It didn't seem they were taking the threat - something renowned oceans expert Roger Payne had warned Future in Review attendees about years before - seriously enough. Perhaps, for personal reasons, it was easier for them not to.
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