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Latest Arctic Warning Sign: Early Blooms of Plankton

Essential organisms affected by melting ice: study

By Matt Cantor,  Newser Staff

Posted Mar 7, 2011 5:12 PM CST

(Newser) – Melting Arctic ice has spurred tiny organisms in the region to bloom far earlier, a study suggests—a shift which could have disastrous results for the entire Arctic ecosystem. Phytoplankton are at the root of the food web there: zooplankton subsist on them, fish eat the zooplankton, birds eat the fish, and so on. But now, phytoplankton populations are peaking as many as 50 days earlier than they were just 14 years ago, reports the Washington Post. "A 50-day shift is a big shift," says one expert; the study's author calls the trend "obvious and significant."

Right now, the change is affecting about 400,000 square miles, and “as the planet warms, the threat is that these changes seen closer to land may spread across the entire Arctic,” says a scientist. It’s not yet clear what that would mean for other organisms—but when plankton blooms change timing in the northern Atlantic, cod populations plummet. And with the Arctic becoming a possible target for fishermen, the altered timing could have implications for our food supply, too.

A picture taken on August 23, 2007 shows the Esmark glacier on the Norwegian Arctic archipelago of Svalbard, which shrank by 3.5 kilometers since 1966.
A picture taken on August 23, 2007 shows the Esmark glacier on the Norwegian Arctic archipelago of Svalbard, which shrank by 3.5 kilometers since 1966.   (Getty Images/AFP PHOTO/PIERRE-HENRY DESHAYES)
This NASA satellite image released in August, 2004 shows an enormous bloom of phytoplankton floating in the cool waters of the Barents Sea off the northern coast of Norway.
This NASA satellite image released in August, 2004 shows an enormous bloom of phytoplankton floating in the cool waters of the Barents Sea off the northern coast of Norway.   (Getty Images)
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COMMENTS
Showing 3 of 24 comments
theelefaunt
Mar 8, 2011 12:15 PM CST
This is actually debatably excellent news, it might create a change in climate, but this only points to a more perfect climate where we and others can thrive, although not all plants and animals will make the cut, but that is the circle of life. we live in a time of a great extinction that is taking place, those who are prepared to evolve will evolve those who are ignorant won't, but is that a good thing.
brawne
Mar 7, 2011 11:19 PM CST
A hundred years earlier than anyone thought in '78. You don't think this mattered then? We just thought smart people knew more and listened and got rid of freon in cans. You'd think we would get smarter and care but we didn't. What happened to chemistry? If you grab some carbon from the atmosphere it has molecules that only exist when fossil fuel--which can be anything smushed--burns. And not just some big fire but you have to distill the fossil fuel first. Distill--cool word, the moment someone did it to crude there were no more whaling ships. They all just disappeared. Anyway, that carbon was distilled first and why it's nasty and it takes a guy to distill--who cares if humans did it? Reality is that it's there and it's not like we did it on purpose. But thinking that we didn't takes all the time that we could spend fixing it. Like I said when there was a hole in the ozone in '78 we all listened. I don't remember anyone saying that the science was wrong. But we weren't fucking idiots then either. I miss that--humans united in a common goal. Fucking religion we all get to watch as the dumb asses force the rapture and then say--we were right. No you weren't. Anyone can self-fulfill a prophecy. It takes real people to overcome it but we have no more of those. We have ill-educated nuts and nuts who don't want to pay taxes. I want to but can't because that tax attorney carves you down to nothing. You could raise the rate to 90% and I still wouldn't pay a penny more. Rich people don't pay taxes. They pay accountants and lawyers and all the revenue comes from the sad fucks who can't deduct. I'm deducting this.
CHRiSTFELD
Mar 7, 2011 11:18 PM CST
Climate change deniers: expect to be contacted by the Department of Natural Selection soon, and they'll have bad news for you.

 
climate change • environment • global warming • plankton • Arctic • ecosystem • melting ice • phytoplankton

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