These Organisms Are Like Sentinels: Changing Oceans Threaten Plankton Species [Video]

According to a new study, some plankton species may face changing environmental conditions by 2100 that could impact marine ecosystems and the ocean’s capacity for storing carbon.

Planktonic foraminifera — single-celled organisms who live in seawater — are under threat from warming oceans, a press release from the Max Planck Society said. In tropical regions, the unprecedented conditions could lead to more extinctions.

“Our data shows that planktonic foraminifera, which play a crucial role in the ocean’s carbon cycle, are struggling to survive in a rapidly changing climate. These organisms are like sentinels, warning us of the drastic effects that warming and acidification have on marine ecosystems,” said lead author of the study Sonia Chaabane, a researcher at the Max Planck Institute for Chemistry and the European Centre for Research and Teaching in Environmental Geosciences (CEREGE), in the press release.

The international team of researchers from Germany, France, Japan, Spain and …