Major consequences of such changes over regional scales will probably include (1) reductions in primary production combined with (2) shifts from diatom - dominated (low SA: V ratio) phytoplankton assemblages with high POC - export efficiencies to picoplankton communities (high SA: V ratio) characterized by low export efficiencies (Smith et al., 2008; Morán et al., 2010; Morán et al., 2015). (elementascience.org)
Researchers say that there is an urgent need to uncover how specific coral picoplankton interactions contribute to these threatened ecosystems. (sciencedaily.com)
In novel lab observations of interactions between corals and planktonic bacteria, known as picoplankton, researchers found that corals are selectively feeding on specific types of bacteria — the same bacteria whose growth is promoted by organic matter and nutrients that are released by the corals. (sciencedaily.com)