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Satellite Study Shows Drop In Ocean's Plankton Level

Posted by timothy on from the but-who's-counting dept.

An anonymous reader submits: "CNN reports there seems to be a dramatic drop in N. hemishpere phytoplankton and a net overall decline in the ocean's overall phytoplankton population. This has very serious implications for the overall food chain and also the scrubbing of CO2 in the atmosphere."

3 of 46 comments (clear)

  1. Or maybe el Nino? by stefanlasiewski · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Don't plankton populations drop during the El Nino season? Different temperatures == fewer plankton survive the temperature change?

    --
    "Can of worms? The can is open... the worms are everywhere."
    1. Re:Or maybe el Nino? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Insightful

      But what? If there is a dead lifeless ocean, we're fucked basically?

  2. The decline is only relative to 20 years ago. by kroymen · · Score: 2, Insightful

    This is potentially very disturbing. However, we don't know that the levels in 1980 weren't abnormally high for some reason (e.g. growing use of fertilizer and increased mono-cropping exacerbating erosion of topsoil into the ocean).

    As usual, we read way too much into research findings.