A study by an international group of researchers shows that interaction between communities of plankton – microorganisms that live at the bottom of the food chain in the oceans and supply most of the planet’s oxygen – will be affected by climate change in different ways depending on location.
A study by an international group of researchers shows that interaction between communities of plankton – microorganisms that live at the bottom of the food chain in the oceans and supply most of the planet’s oxygen – will be affected by climate change in different ways depending on location.
Computer simulations suggested that plankton communities at the poles will be particularly badly damaged by the rise in temperature, while in temperate zones they will suffer from a reduced flow of nutrients and in the tropics from increased salinity.
The findings, published in the journal Science Advances, resulted from mathematical modeling based on the largest-ever inventory of marine plankton, carried out by Tara Ocean expeditions between 2009 and 2013. The Tara is a research schooner that sailed around the world collecting samples of marine plankton from every ocean during the period.
Read more at: Fundacao de Amparo a Pesquisa do Estado de Sao Paulo
Helena Carvalho, a researcher at the University of Paris, collecting samples on the Amazon River during the latest Tara Ocean expedition, which arrived in Brazil in September 2021 (Photo Credit: Maéva Bardy/Tara Ocean Foundation)
