Powerful Plankton
Plankton, the tiny
plants and animals
at the base of the
marine food web
play a crucial
role in keeping
our planet healthy.
They provide about
half of the world’s oxygen
and each year lock away vast
amounts of carbon when they
die and sink to the sea floor. Image Credit: M.Edwards, SAHFOS
Plankton abundance, timing and composition has a major infl uence on the size of fisheries and the health of other marine wildlife.
Phytoplankton remove billions of tonnes of the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide (CO2) from the atmosphere each year. Without them, the world’s climate would be much warmer.
We now have a thriving community of sub tropical plankton in the North Sea.
Sea surface temperatures around Britain are increasing and this is affecting plankton distribution. Over the last 50 years, warm water species of plankton normally found around the Mediterranean have moved northwards. At the same time, the cold water subarctic species have moved further north and west away from the British Isles. Image Credit: G. Beaugrand, SAHFOS
Content Credit: Sir Alister Hardy Foundation for Ocean Science.