Building blocks of ocean food web in rapid decline as plankton productivity plunges

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From https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/newfoundland-labrador/ocean-phytoplankton-zooplankton-food-web-1.4927884

Building blocks of ocean food web in rapid decline as plankton productivity plunges
Senior DFO scientist says the cause of the collapse is unknown

Jane Adey · CBC News · Posted: Dec 22, 2018 5:00 PM NT | Last Updated: 3 hours ago

They're teeny, tiny plants and organisms but their impact on ocean life is huge.​

Phytoplankton and zooplankton that live near the surface are the base of the ocean's food system. Everything from small fish, big fish, whales and seabirds depend on their productivity.

"They actually determine what's going to happen, how much energy is going to be available for the rest of the food chain," explained Pierre Pepin, a senior researcher with the Department of Fisheries and Oceans in St. John's.

Pepin says over the past 3-4 years, scientists have seen a persistent drop in phytoplankton and zooplankton in waters off Newfoundland and Labrador.

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More at link.

[PSPS]

1. One of the first casualities of oil spills is plankton.

Deepwater Horizon was in 2010, and Taylor Energy's 2004 spill is still going on. The dispersal pattern of this oil includes going up the Atlantic seabord.

[NickB79]

2. This is how the movie Soylent Green ends

With the revelation that Soylent Green is actually recycled humans because the plankton they used to make it from has died out.