Microscopic ocean phytoplankton feed a "biological pump" that carries carbon from the surface to deep waters. Scientists have found that this process stores much more carbon than previously thought.
Populations of plankton are in decline. If we push this critical foundation of the marine food chain to extinction, we could cripple ecosystems for millions of years.
A camera catches a huge Greenland shark in eastern Baffin Bay, near Disko Bay, Greenland.
Jonathan Fisher
Acidic oceans are disrupting a major part of the carbon cycle, slowing how seas absorb carbon from the atmosphere. This could massively speed up the effects of climate change.v
New research shows that chemicals leached from ocean plastic impair the growth and oxygen production of the planet's most abundant photosynthesiser - endangering marine ecosystems and the climate.
Phytoplankton under a microscope.
Rattiya Thongdumhyu/Shutterstock
Fish are a key food source for millions of people worldwide. But a recent study finds long-term warming over the next 200 years could starve tiny plankton, with impacts that would ripple up food chains.
The mouth of the Murray River delivers vital nutrients to marine life in the ocean beyond.
SA Water
Low flows in the Murray River in recent years have harmed tiny marine plants called phytoplankton, with consequences for local marine species and management.
The Agulhas Current plays a critical role in global ocean circulation that influences climatic conditions across the world.
Furious winds keep the McMurdo Dry Valleys in Anarctica free of snow and ice. Calcites found in the valleys have revealed the secrets of ancient subglacial volcanoes.
Stuart Rankin/Flickr
Melting ice from Antartica could feed vast plankton blooms, trapping carbon in the ocean. To understand this complex mechanism, researchers looked at volcanoes deep under glaciers.
Young African penguins are following the usual cues to feeding grounds only to find that the sources of food in these places is no longer available. This is devastating for their numbers.
The idea is to come up with better alternatives to this.
Australian Customs and Border Protection Service
Japan's fleet is on its way to the Southern Ocean for more "scientific" whaling. But a new resolution pointing out the importance of whale poo could help remove Japan's rationale for lethal research.
Watch out, there’s a mixotroph about.
Shutterstock
They 'engulf living prey, suck out their innards, poison them, harpoon them, make them explode, and steal and reuse body parts'. And we ignore them at our peril.
The Balleny Islands off East Antarctica - one of the many stops along the way.
Krudller/Wikimedia Commons
Why spend three months completing a lap of Antarctica (and probably getting seasick along the way)? It's the only way to get vital clues about the remote Southern Ocean and its influence on the planet.
A bloom of phytoplankton in the Barents Sea: the milky blue colour strongly suggests it contains coccolithopores.
Wikimedia/NASA Earth Observatory
Tiny organisms change ocean acidity to benefit themselves.
A mass proliferation of Noctiluca scintillans, a red tide forming dinoflagellate at Clovelly Beach, NSW. It can form dense aggregations that deplete oxygen and produce ammonia.
Gurjeet Kohli
They give us part of the air we breathe but microscopic phytoplankton can also be toxic. They are also on the move thanks to climate change so a new Australian database hopes to monitor any changes.
The dust storm that turned Sydney red in 2009 triggered plankton blooms in the Tasman Sea, demonstrating how we might fertilise the ocean to take up more carbon dioxide.