Climate Change May Drastically Impact Oceanic Food Web: Primary Producers Decrease

It turns out that climate change could have some major impacts on our oceans. Scientists have discovered that phytoplankton and zooplankton biomass may decrease by 6 and 11 percent by the end of the century due to climate change. This could have some major impacts on the oceanic food web.

Sea surface temperatures are estimated to increase by 2 degrees Celsius on average globally by 2080 to 2100. These higher temperatures could impact ocean circulation and increase water column stratification. This, in turn, would affect nutrient availability for the growth of marine phytoplankton.

Although there will be global decreases in the amount of zooplankton and phytoplankton, there are some regions that will feel more of these effects. The process will mostly take place in tropical oceans, which cover about 47 percent of the global ocean surface.

The main problem at hand is the fact that these reductions will also impact the entire food web. The lack of zooplankton and phytoplankton could filter up the food chain and influence fisheries in the future.

"In the ocean that lose more phytoplankton and zooplankton biomass, that is, with a negative amplification, fish biomass may also decrease dramatically, especially pelagic spcies (i.e. those living the water column, excluding the seabed)," said Guillem Churst, one of the researchers, in a news release.

That's not all, either. This reduction could also impact gases in the air.

"Climate regulation will also be affected negatively by the primary and secondary production decrease globally," said Churst in a news release. "Because, as there will be less phytoplankton, absorption of CO2 from the atmosphere by the oceans will be lower, as plankton is responsible for half of the planet's photosynthetic activity. This in turn will reduce the ocean's capacity to regulate the climate."

The findings are published in the journal Global Change Biology.