Environmental security

Tiny plankton likely to ride out global warming

These microscopic organisms support the marine food web, providing food for whales, fish and crustaceans.

Scientists at the University of Technology Sydney (UTS) in Australia and Imperial College London have been modelling how plankton drift with ocean currents to understand whether they are threatened by ocean warming.

The results of the study, published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Science (PNAS), show for the first time the range of temperatures that plankton travel through. In most locations, they endure temperature extremes that go beyond what is predicted by models of global warming.

The scientists used a computer model of global ocean circulation to simulate the journeys taken by three million virtual plankton, and the temperature conditions they experience.