Editorials & Other Articles

Bill USA

(6,436 posts) Mon Sep 23, 2013, 08:57 PM Sep 2013

Source of Half Earth's Oxygen (phytoPlankton) Gets Little Credit

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2004/06/0607_040607_phytoplankton.html

Fish, whales, dolphins, crabs, seabirds, and just about everything else that makes a living in or off of the oceans owe their existence to phytoplankton, one-celled plants that live at the ocean surface.

Phytoplankton are at the base of what scientists refer to as oceanic biological productivity, the ability of a water body to support life such as plants, fish, and wildlife.

"A measure of productivity is the net amount of carbon dioxide taken up by phytoplankton," said Jorge Sarmiento, a professor of atmospheric and ocean sciences at Princeton University in New Jersey.

The one-celled plants use energy from the sun to convert carbon dioxide and nutrients into complex organic compounds, which form new plant material. This process, known as photosynthesis, is how phytoplankton grow.
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4 replies

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Source of Half Earth's Oxygen (phytoPlankton) Gets Little Credit (Original Post) Bill USA Sep 2013 OP

I personally credit phytoplankton. mr_hat Sep 2013 #1

YAY! PHYTOPLANKTON YAY!... uriel1972 Sep 2013 #2

EXACTLY. And ocean acidification is proceeding rapidly and scientists don't have too good of an idea Bill USA Sep 2013 #3

This is one of those tipping points from global warming, ocean acidification will have an adverse Uncle Joe Sep 2013 #4

mr_hat

(3,410 posts)

1. I personally credit phytoplankton.

Reply to Bill USA (Original post)

Mon Sep 23, 2013, 09:11 PM

Sep 2013

uriel1972

(4,261 posts)

2. YAY! PHYTOPLANKTON YAY!...

Reply to Bill USA (Original post)

Tue Sep 24, 2013, 07:17 AM

Sep 2013

No seriously, it's very important stuff. If it goes, we're sh!t out of luck.

Bill USA

(6,436 posts)

3. EXACTLY. And ocean acidification is proceeding rapidly and scientists don't have too good of an idea

Reply to uriel1972 (Reply #2)

Tue Sep 24, 2013, 06:06 PM

Sep 2013

at what point various plants (phytoplankton) and critters in the sea are going to start dieing off. They're studying this as fast as funding will allow but a lot is NOT known about this. This means getting GHG emissions down as fast as possible is even more critically important than scientists have thought.

They have somewhat of a hold on how fast the seas will rise (although nobody knows at what point the Greenland ice sheets will start sliding off the land at much quicker rate that they are right now - and thus, accelerate the oceans' rise. But they have much less confidence in making an estimate as to how long we have until phytoplankton start dieing off and our Oxygen supply starts dropping.

And a lack of Oxygen will hit us much harder and faster than higher temps and oceans!

Uncle Joe

(58,389 posts)

4. This is one of those tipping points from global warming, ocean acidification will have an adverse