Skip to Content.
Sympa Menu

permaculture - [permaculture] Scientists want you to know plankton is not just whale food | Reuters

permaculture@lists.ibiblio.org

Subject: permaculture

List archive

Chronological Thread  
  • From: Lawrence London <lfljvenaura@gmail.com>
  • To: permaculture <permaculture@lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: [permaculture] Scientists want you to know plankton is not just whale food | Reuters
  • Date: Thu, 21 May 2015 22:57:15 -0400

Scientists want you to know plankton is not just whale food
http://in.reuters.com/article/2015/05/21/science-plankton-idINKBN0O62D820150521

Scientists on Thursday unveiled the most comprehensive analysis ever
undertaken of the world's ocean plankton, the tiny organisms that serve as
food for marine creatures such as the blue whale, but also provide half the
oxygen we breathe.

The researchers spent 3-1/2 years aboard the schooner Tara, taking 35,000
samples of plankton from 210 sites globally, determining the distribution
of the organisms, tracking how they interact with one another and carrying
out genetic analyses.

Plankton include microscopic plants and animals, fish larvae, bacteria,
viruses and other microorganisms that drift in the oceans.

"Plankton are much more than just food for the whales," said Chris Bowler,
a research director at France's National Center for Scientific Research,
and one of the scientists involved in the study published in the journal
Science.

"Although tiny, these organisms are a vital part of the Earth's life
support system, providing half of the oxygen generated each year on Earth
by photosynthesis and lying at the base of marine food chains on which all
other ocean life depends."

The scientists conducted the largest DNA sequencing effort ever done in
ocean science, pinpointing around 40 million plankton genes, most
previously unknown.

Much of the plankton was more genetically diverse than previously known.
However, the genetic diversity of marine viruses was much lower than
anticipated.

By removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and converting it into
organic carbon via photosynthesis, plankton provide a buffer against the
increased carbon dioxide being generated by the burning of fossil fuels,
Bowler said.

Tara Expeditions Executive Director Romain Troublé said the schooner sailed
about 87,000 miles (140,000 km) during the research voyage.

Those aboard endured hardships such as being locked for 10 days in Arctic
ice, storms in the Mediterranean Sea and in the Magellan Straight, and
sailing through the Gulf of Aden with protection from the French navy
against pirates.

The scientists found that most of the interactions between plankton
organisms were parasitic. They also found evidence for widespread dispersal
of viruses in the oceans.

"Since the most numerous members of the plankton are bacteria, the majority
of viruses in the ocean are thought to infect bacteria," University of
Arizona oceanographer Jennifer Brum, another of the researchers, said.

"A good way of thinking about this is that there are roughly 200 million
viruses in every mouthful of seawater, and most of those viruses are
infecting the roughly 20 million bacteria found in every mouthful of
seawater."

(Reporting by Will Dunham. Editing by Andre Grenon)



  • [permaculture] Scientists want you to know plankton is not just whale food | Reuters, Lawrence London, 05/21/2015

Archive powered by MHonArc 2.6.24.

Top of Page