Warmer oceans may increase food for fish
London, August 25 (ANI): In a new research, scientists have found that plankton, the basis of marine food webs, might grow faster in warmed up oceans.
The sheer diversity of ocean food webs has made experts fear it would be impossible to predict how climate change will affect marine ecology.
But, Mary O’Connor and colleagues at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, may have solved the problem.
According to a report in New Scientist, the team found that plankton, the basis of marine food webs, might react predictably to ocean warming.
The team warmed 4-litre "microcosms" of seawater.
They found that phytoplankton grew slightly faster with every degree of temperature rise.
But zooplankton grew - and ate the phytoplankton - faster still. Zooplankton only retain about 10 per cent of the biomass of phytoplankton they eat, so there was a fall in biomass overall.
This might not be entirely bad news for people, according to O’Connor.
More zooplankton means more food for fish, though such top-heavy food webs could crash, she warned.
"The effect could be translated up the food chain," said O’Connor. "But if nutrients in the water are limited, that top-heavy food web structure could be less stable, and crash all together," she added. (ANI)