Analyzing samples of polar bears can reveal not only what they ate but also the food web during their lives. Polar bears pictured live in captivity.
(AP Photo/Ronald Zak)
Marine life known as zooplankton might be the biggest problem with getting carbon cycling right in climate models. The potential variations in carbon uptake are greater than global transport emissions.
We could sink more carbon in the ocean to fight climate change, but should we?
Eric Lafforgue/Art in All of Us/Corbis via Getty Images
From planting mangroves to dumping minerals in the ocean, there are lots of ideas for ocean carbon dioxide removal – and even more questions.
The Osun River has become turbid and unsafe for consumption - threatening its cultural and biodiversity significance. Photo by: Stefan Heunis/AFP via Getty Images.
from www,gettyimages.com
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.