Drastic decline in plankton

The articles that we read opened my eyes on how plankton really effects our ocean. Plankton are small organisms that help  many living things in the oceans. Plankton are one of the main souses of the ocean. Without them the food chain will start to die out. Each organism in the ocean depends on plankton one way or another. The majority of animals eat the plankton or eat the other animals that eat the plankton, so without plankton animals will die out. The articles state that the number of plankton is dropping. The ocean temperatures have started to rise, causing these organisms to die out. We wouldn't think that such a small thing in the ocean could effect the whole food chain but that's exactly what is happening. Plankton gobble up carbon dioxide that produce half the worlds oxygen, that will effect the whole world. The plankton population has dropped 40% since since 1950. That means that it has dropped about 1% of the average plankton population between 1899 and 2008, says the Scientific America article. Science has found that  plankton declines are near the poles and in the tropics, but also just anywhere in the ocean. Scientist believe that the rising temperatures are causing the drastic decline of plankton. In Scientific America, it says that as the surface water begins to warm, it forms a layer that does not mix with the cooler waters below, those are the waters with nutrients in it, such as the materials needed for CO2 and sunlight.

I think that its clearly a big problem that the plankton population is decreasing. Without the plankton the oceans fish population will start  to die out too. This will happen because all the organisms in the ocean in some way need plankton to live. Even if they are not directly eating the plankton they still eat other organisms that eat plankton. Plankton is an important part of our ocean. I think something has to be done in order to help keep the population up.