Rising Carbon Dioxide Causes Rapid Growth of Coccolithophores in the Ocean

There's something strange happening in the world's oceans due to an excess of carbon dioxide. Plankton is, apparently, growing rapidly in spite of scientific predictions.

"Sometimes strange is happening here, and it's happening much more quickly than we thought it should," said Anand Granadesikan, one of the researchers, in a news release. "What is worrisome is that our result points out how little we know about how complex ecosystems function."

Scientists have long thought that the number of coccolithophores, which are chalk-shelled alge, would decline due to an excess of carbon dioxide. These single-shelled algae play a role in the cycling of calcium carbonate, a factor in atmospheric carbon dioxide levels. More specifically, researchers believed that more-acidic oceans would be the downfall of these organisms.

In this latest study, though, the researchers analyzed the data from the Continuous Plankton Recorder survey from the North Atlantic Ocean and the North Sea since the mid-1960s. This revealed that carbon dioxide may actually be causing an increase in the population of coccolithophores.

"Coccolithophores have been typically more abundant during Earth's warm interglacial and high CO2 periods," said William Balch, co-author of the new study, in a news release. "The results presented here are consistent with this and may portend, like the 'canary in the coal mine,' where we are headed climatologically."

These algae make it more difficult to remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere in the short term. However, in the long term, they help remove carbon dioxide from the atmospheres and confine it in the deep ocean.

The findings reveal a bit more about the environment our planet is heading toward. This, in turn, may reveal what we may have in store for us in the future.

The findings are published in the journal Science.

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