Moore Foundation grantee Heidi Sosik and colleagues at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) have shown for the first time how changes in ocean temperature affect a key species of phytoplankton.
The study, published in the October 21 issue of the journal Science, tracked levels of a tiny bacterium called Synechococcus common in marine ecosystems near the coast of Massachusetts over a 13-year period. As ocean temperatures increased during that time, annual blooms of Synechococcus occurred up to four weeks earlier than usual because cells divided faster in warmer conditions, the study found.
Shifts like these could have a major impact on marine ecosystems worldwide, says Sosik, a biologist at WHOI who initiated the study. "Synechococcus and other phytoplankton are sentinels. They can tell us how an ecosystem is responding to shifts in climate," she says.
"If ocean temperatures continue warming over the next century, some ecosystems could become more and more dominated by small phytoplankton, eventually leading to shifts that could affect the livelihoods of larger species like fish, whales, and birds."
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