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Steep Decline In Phytoplankton
Levels Threatens Life in the Seas and Elsewhere
Microscropic Algae is ultimate food source in the oceans
A new study published in the science journal Nature reveals that Phytoplankton is undergoing an alarming decline in numbers, with a 40% - 50% drop in global populations since 1950. Phytoplankton is a microscopic algae, and the continuing drop in population would be no big deal, except that it's the primary source of food for the marine life food chain. In the marine food web, smaller organisms feed on the phytoplankton, larger organisms feed on those, and so on up the line.

The research compiled and analyzed data going back to the 1800s, and found that the amount of phytoplankton had decreased about one percent of the global average per year with about a 40 percent decline since 1950. The strongest trends were found in the Northern Hemisphere.

Most scientists whom commented on this unfortunate develop indicated that the warming of the oceans is the most likely cause. Why have scientists become such alarmists. Are they all liberals now?
steep decline in phytoplankton threatens all life

The precipitous decline was documented in a study conducted by researchers at Dalhousie University in Nova Scotia and first reported in the science journal Nature. Most of the media touches on the topic in passing, but the notoriously liberal, Al Gore-loving Wall Street Journal wrote it up big. Maybe some reporters still under the Rubert Radar*.
WHO KNEW?

Plant plankton found in the world’s oceans are crucial to much of life on Earth. They are the foundation of the bountiful marine food web, produce half the world’s oxygen and suck up harmful carbon dioxide.

Phytoplanton produce energy through photosynthesis, which also removes carbom dioxide from the atmosphere while producing oxygen. In the course of this process, these seemingly unimportant little guys form the base of the entire marine ecosystem. They are the food for pretty much everything that swims -- from unassuming zooplankton up to the big whales.

So, in addition to contributing to the already alarming decline in fish populations, the sharp drop in phytoplankton will actually contribute to the spiraling levels of CO2 in the atmosphere, and further exacerbate climate change.

At CatastropheMap headquarters in downtown Naperville, we discuss exactly what sort of news it might require to convince the human species to stop killing the planet, and by extension, itself. We know the oceans are quickly (not slowly) becoming large sewers, with swirling gyres of plastic crap occupying continent sized territory in all the major seas. And there are about 400 dead zones around the world now, including the one next to the Gulf of Mexico oil spill zone. And there are some problems with the acification of the oceans, said to be acidifying ten times faster than the mass extinction that took place 55 million years ago.

Now secretly, if you are of a certain age, you don't really worry about events that will take place in forty or fifty years. Unfortunately, this report means you should worry now. This is happening so fast, it might affect your golf game.
* Rupert Murdoch, chairman of News Corp., parent company of F*x News and WJSJ. Return to the Nuclear Map.