Phytoplankton are microscopic algae found floating and drifting in the upper layer of the oceans. They perform a very essential task of preparing food for those organisms which don’t have the means to do it by themselves. Phytoplankton achieves this by following the process of photosynthesis, in which they utilize sunlight and carbon di oxide to create food for themselves and for other marine organisms as well. Ever wondered what the consequences will be if there was no phytoplankton left on earth? If phytoplankton concentration starts declining there won’t be enough food left for the marine ecosystem organisms such as zooplankton, fishes, whales and even seabirds, as a result there population will also shrink. This will also affect the fish farms all over the world which require phytoplankton in order to feed their fishes. One more reason why phytoplankton decline is an issue of global concern is that they influence the earth’s climate to a great extent. By consuming the carbon dioxide during photosynthesis they get rid of the excess CO 2 from the atmosphere, and thus help in controlling global warming. There are phytoplankton species which are know to influence cloud formation by creating cloud condensation nuclei where rain droplets may condensate. Some of them are known to reflect and some to absorb the solar radiations creating a balance in the earth’s overall temperature.
Something for which phytoplankton must be considered very important is that they produce a major part of the oxygen which we breath. Prochlorococcus, a phytoplankton, is estimated to provide oxygen for one amongst the five breaths we take. It is this fact which makes them so important for all the living creatures on earth. There has been a global decline in their concentration in the past century. The rate of decline being approximated to be 40% since 1950. This trend has been observed in 8 large oceanic regions, grater in polar and tropical regions. What is the cause of this decline? Raising sea surface temperature makes the oceans stratified or stable which means there will be less intermixing of the lower level oceanic water with the surface water. The lower waters contain nutrients which the phytoplankton needs to grow and the less frequently they mix with the surface water the less food phytoplankton will get, and as a result there concentration will decline. Global phytoplankton decline is a serious problem, their existence is not only important for ocean ecosystem, but also for earth’s climate, fish farms and most for everything which need oxygen to survive. Rishabh Sinha |
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May 2019
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