Thursday, August 5, 2010

Endangered Phytoplankton

are a valuable link in our food chain.
They account for half of the photosynthetic activity on earth
thus making them responsible for much of the oxygen in our atmosphere.
New studies are showing that their numbers have dropped severely,
by as much as 40% since 1950 and accelerating.

This is mainly attributed to a drop in microscopic marine plants
have decreased by 1% every year since 1899.
Rising sea temperatures are believed to be the culprit.
"The decline of these tiny plankton will have impacted nearly all sea creatures and fish stocks"
Ecosystems such as corals are also on the decline due to ocean temperatures and ocean acidification

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