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Oceanography

Plankton in a warmer world

Nature volume 444, pages 695–696 (2006)Cite this article

Satellite data show that phytoplankton biomass and growth generally decline as the oceans' surface waters warm up. Is this trend, seen over the past decade, a harbinger of the future for marine ecosystems?

Oranges in Florida, wildfires in Indonesia, plankton in the North Pacific — what links these seemingly disparate items is that they are all affected by year-to-year fluctuations in global-scale climate. On page 752 of this issue, Behrenfeld et al.1 describe how such fluctuations, especially in temperature, are connected to the productivity of phytoplankton in the world's oceans. Their analyses are based on nearly a decade of satellite data, and for much of the oceans they find that recent warmer surface temperatures correspond to lower oceanic biomass and productivity. Behrenfeld et al. argue that these patterns arise because climate-induced changes in ocean circulation reduce the supply of nutrients needed for photosynthesis.

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Figure 1: Predicted phytoplankton response to increased temperature in ocean surface waters1.

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  1. Marine Chemistry and Geochemistry Department, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Woods Hole, 02543, Massachusetts, USA

    Scott C. Doney

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  1. Scott C. Doney
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Doney, S. Plankton in a warmer world. Nature 444, 695–696 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1038/444695a

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