Sentences with phrase «base of the marine food chain»

«Although tiny, these organisms are a vital part of the Earth's life support system, providing half of the oxygen generated each year on Earth by photosynthesis and lying at the base of marine food chains on which all other life in the ocean depends.»

In the water above natural oil seeps in the Gulf of Mexico, where oil and gas bubbles rise almost a mile to break at the surface, scientists have discovered something unusual: phytoplankton, tiny microbes at the base of the marine food chain, are thriving.

While algae and other microscopic plants, which form the base of the marine food chain, are vital to a healthy ecosystem, too much can cause murky water, reduce sunlight and oxygen levels, and ultimately cause harm to marine life.

To further investigate, researchers at the University of New Hampshire looked at seaweed populations over the last 30 years in the Southwestern Gulf of Maine and found the once predominant and towering kelp seaweed beds are declining and more invasive, shrub - like species have taken their place, altering the look of the ocean floor and the base of the marine food chain.

Researcher Ajit Subramaniam, an oceanographer at Columbia University's Lamont - Doherty Earth Observatory, used the data set to focus on natural oil seeps and discovered something unusual — phytoplankton, the base of the marine food chain — were thriving in the area of these natural oil seeps.

Because algae are the base of the marine food chain, the acid gets transferred to other animals, including shellfish.

In many parts of the ocean the productivity of phytoplankton — microscopic plants at the base of the marine food chain — is limited by the availability of dissolved iron.

The pungent odor that hangs over some polynyas, Arrigo explained, is from emissions produced by certain varieties of phytoplankton — tiny microorganisms that form the basis of the marine food chain.

Now a team of researchers from MIT, the University of Alabama, and elsewhere has found that such increased ocean acidification will dramatically affect global populations of phytoplankton — microorganisms on the ocean surface that make up the base of the marine food chain.

Five thematic areas have been identified which cover the range of processes from the base of the marine food chain to the community and ecosystem level, and of mechanisms from the sub-cellular to the whole organism level.

«I discuss the technology of buoyant nutrient flakes to regenerate the phytoplankton at the base of the marine food chain.

It's been enough to raise the levels of the ocean — and the extra carbon in the atmosphere has also changed the chemistry of that seawater, making it more acidic and beginning to threaten the base of the marine food chain.

When this happens large parts of the oceans could be starved from ocean floor nutrients, threatening the base of the marine food chain.

Large - scale impacts on pteropods and other calcifying organisms that form the base of the marine food chain could distress populations of larger fish that feed on them, leading to significant economic impacts on the multi-billion dollar U.S. seafood industry.

Increased carbon dioxide has already lowered the pH of the surface ocean; this is expected to have a negative effect on survival of plankton, the base of the marine food chain, and the growth and health of corals, which form biodiverse reefs in shallow waters of the Hawaiian Islands and Florida, and deep reefs in Alaska and the Southeast U.S. Invasive species are increasingly being recognized.

In addition to the acoustic monitoring equipment, the gliders are also outfitted with environmental sensors that collect data about things like temperature and salinity, and the estimated algae population levels, which are at the base of the marine food chain.

The underwater robots boast a suite of environmental sensors to record temperature and salinity, and to estimate algae population levels at the base of the marine food chain.