Phytoplankton are microscopic, photosynthetic organisms inhabiting the sunlit (euphotic) layers of aquatic ecosystems, forming the base of most marine and freshwater food webs. Predominantly composed of cyanobacteria, diatoms, dinoflagellates, coccolithophores, and green algae, they fix inorganic carbon via oxygenic photosynthesis, driving primary production and biogeochemical cycling of carbon, nitrogen, phosphorus, silicon, and trace metals. Their biomass and productivity are tightly regulated by light availability, nutrient concentrations, temperature, and hydrodynamic mixing. Phytoplankton dynamics underpin global carbon export to the deep ocean via the biological pump and strongly influence atmospheric CO₂ levels and climate feedbacks.
Stanford researchers have uncovered evidence that deep underwater earthquakes can spur the growth of massive phytoplankton blooms at the ocean surface.
Earth Sciences
Dec 18, 2025
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139
Scientists at NYU Abu Dhabi have developed a powerful new artificial intelligence tool called LA⁴SR that can rapidly identify previously overlooked proteins in microalgae—tiny organisms that produce much of Earth's oxygen ...
Cell & Microbiology
Dec 16, 2025
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19
Researchers at the Leibniz Institute of Freshwater Ecology and Inland Fisheries (IGB) have investigated how summer storms change the ecology of deep, clear lakes in a large-scale experiment in the LakeLab at Lake Stechlin. ...
Ecology
Dec 16, 2025
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15
Large phytoplankton blooms north of the Hawaiian Islands have been seen in satellite imagery as vast swirls of color nearly every summer, but their origin and ecosystem dynamics have remained mysterious.
Ecology
Dec 16, 2025
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16
Corals obtain energy in two ways: firstly, through photosynthesis by their symbiotic algae, and secondly by taking up small food particles such as plankton directly from the water. In scientific terms, this process is known ...
Plants & Animals
Dec 15, 2025
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36
Around the world, phytoplankton in the upper ocean help to cycle key nutrients and regulate Earth's climate by absorbing carbon dioxide. These photosynthesizing organisms rely on dissolved iron as an essential micronutrient, ...
Earth Sciences
Dec 11, 2025
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20
The world's oceans are vital for life on Earth. Drifting phytoplankton provide almost half the oxygen released into the atmosphere. Marine and coastal ecosystems provide food and protect communities from storms.
Ecology
Nov 10, 2025
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21
A new study led by researchers at the University of Hawaii (UH) at Mānoa published in Nature Communications is the first of its kind to show that waste discharged from deep-sea mining operations in the Pacific's biodiverse ...
Plants & Animals
Nov 6, 2025
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50
Plankton are the invisible engines of life on Earth, producing much of the planet's oxygen and forming the foundation of the oceanic food chain. They are also incredibly diverse, with tens of thousands of species described ...
Cell & Microbiology
Oct 31, 2025
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50
The ocean's smallest engineers, calcifying plankton, quietly regulate Earth's thermostat by capturing and cycling carbon. However, a new review published in Science by an international team led by the Institute of Environmental ...
Earth Sciences
Oct 23, 2025
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