Latest Phytoplankton Stories

April Flowers for redOrbit.com - Your Universe Online Sorting through the vast amounts of genetic data from the Black Sea sediment record, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) marine paleoecologist Marco Coolen was astounded by the variety of past plankton species that left behind their genetic makeup. This vast amount of data is called the plankton paleome. The Black Sea is semi-isolated from other bodies of water, and highly sensitive to climate driven environmental changes....

April Flowers for redOrbit.com - Your Universe Online The ability of sea spray to form clouds over the ocean is influenced by ocean biology which alters the chemical composition of the spray. A team of scientists from the University of California, San Diego, is using a new approach to study tiny atmospheric particles called aerosols. These aerosols can influence climate by absorbing or reflecting sunlight and seeding clouds. "After many decades of attempting to understand how the ocean...

redOrbit Staff & Wire Reports - Your Universe Online Researchers at the Plymouth University Marine Institute have developed a new smartphone app that they claim will allow regular folks to help scientists track the impact of climate change on phytoplankton. In a statement released Friday, the university reports that scientists are concerned that the tiny organisms, which are at the bottom end of the marine life food chain, could be decreasing in numbers due to increasing sea...

Brett Smith for redOrbit.com - Your Universe Online Geoengineering is a controversial and illegal practice that attempts to mitigate the forces of climate change on a grand scale. Many see this attempt to alter global climate via artificial means as a ‘quick fix’ with potential long-term negative effects. However, despite the contentious nature of geoengineering, scientists from the Alfred Wegener Institute in Bremerhaven, Germany decided to analyze a ‘rock dissolving’...

Baby Boomer ReBoot, a nutritional supplement that offers a number of critical health benefits to older adults, is now available via Amazon.com, the world’s most popular ecommerce website. Delray Beach, FL (PRWEB) December 06, 2012 Baby Boomer ReBoot, a nutritional supplement that offers a number of critical health benefits to older adults, is now available via Amazon.com, the world’s most popular ecommerce website. The brand, which aims to improve the vitality and energy levels for...

Indiana University IU seeks patent for discovery with implications for health care, climate change research An international team of biologists led by Indiana University's David M. Kehoe has identified both the enzyme and molecular mechanism critical for controlling a chameleon-like process that allows one of the world's most abundant ocean phytoplankton, once known as blue-green algae, to maximize light harvesting for photosynthesis. Responsible for contributing about 20 percent of...

redOrbit Staff & Wire Reports - Your Universe Online An international team of researchers has uncovered the first evidence that marine creatures living in the Antarctic region are being affected by ocean acidification. That evidence was discovered in 2008, when researchers from the British Antarctic Survey (BAS), the University of East Anglia (UEA), the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) observed that the shells...

National Science Foundation New research shows that ocean turbulence directly affects the ability of microscopic marine organisms to recycle organic material back into the food web. Results of the study are published in this week's issue of the journal Science. Scientists John Taylor of Cambridge University and Roman Stocker at MIT found that there's a relationship between the natural movement of water in the ocean and the ability of marine bacteria to act as recyclers. "The...

Lawrence LeBlond for redOrbit.com - Your Universe Online Phytoplankton (plant wanderers), organisms that exist in the sunlit layer of the world’s oceans, are important for the sustainability of the aquatic food web. However, future warming oceans could significantly alter the populations of these important organisms, further impacting climate change. Since phytoplankton play a major role in the food chain and the world’s carbon, nitrogen and phosphorous cycles, a significant decline...

Scientists at the University of Rhode Island's Graduate School of Oceanography have made the first observation of a predator avoidance behavior by a species of phytoplankton, a microscopic marine plant. Susanne Menden-Deuer, associate professor of oceanography, and doctoral student Elizabeth Harvey made the unexpected observation while studying the interactions between phytoplankton and zooplankton. Their discovery will be published in the September 28 issue of the journal PLOS ONE. "It...