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Rising Carbon Dioxide Causes Rapid Growth of Plankton 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.

Scientists have long thought that the number of coccolithophores, which are chalk-shelled algae, 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.

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.