The fragility of plankton
When there is a natural disaster at sea, such as the Exxon Valdez in Alaska (1989) or the Prestige in the NW Spanish coast (2002), we all immediately worry about seabirds, turtles, and dolphins and how the disaster will affect fisheries. On television, we are flooded with images of black birds, covered in oil, and dead fish on beaches. All of this is relevant and important, of course. However, no one (apart from three or four specialist scientists in the field) stops thinking about what effect it can have on the base of the food web, the plankton. We are not aware of the fact that if the plankton fails, the house of cards collapses, and we can forget about the birds, turtles, dolphins, and fish because nothing will reach them to eat and they will die irretrievably. Fortunately, although certain groups of plankton are very sensitive to hydrocarbon pollutants, the dilution effect of seawater and the mostly superficial zoning of the crude play in their favor. [...]
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| Format: | entrada de blog biblioteca |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
2022-12-05
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| Subjects: | Conserve and sustainably use the oceans, seas and marine resources for sustainable development, |
| Online Access: | http://hdl.handle.net/10261/306539 |
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