An interesting report on ‘Calcifying Plankton’

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MichaelG.
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An interesting report on ‘Calcifying Plankton’

#1 Post by MichaelG. » Mon Feb 10, 2020 11:48 pm

Quantifying the Effect of Anthropogenic Climate Change on Calcifying Plankton
Lyndsey fox 1,2*, Stephen Stukins 1, Thomas Hill 1 & C. Giles Miller 1
.
Published in Nature and available here:
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-020-58501-w.pdf

It includes some amazing images.

MichaelG.
Too many 'projects'

apochronaut
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Joined: Fri May 15, 2015 12:15 am

Re: An interesting report on ‘Calcifying Plankton’

#2 Post by apochronaut » Tue Feb 11, 2020 5:40 pm

It kind of vaults beyond interesting to the level of disturbing. Quantifying the effects of climate change presents the most difficult of challenges and probably the scientific challenge of this century. Here, only because of collections made a century and a half ago, is it possible.
I have been out of doors for almost the entirety of my working life and monitored an Environment Canada regional weather station twice daily for many years. Is the blue of the sky, the same as it used to be? is the chlorophyll as intensely green, the snail shells more brittle or are the hickory nut shells thinner? We have little of a basis upon which to answer, usually only memory and intuition.

MicroBob
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Location: Northern Germany

Re: An interesting report on ‘Calcifying Plankton’

#3 Post by MicroBob » Tue Feb 11, 2020 9:08 pm

Hi Michael,
very interesting, thank you for posting!
I recently heard hat the acidification of the oceans also has a direct impact on CO2 consumation and storage though placton life: The higher acidity leads to a quicker decay of died algae and they take less CO2 with them to the bottom of the ocean. And the currents in the ocean have a big influence on algae development and of cause are effected by climate change and rising water levels.
And when I talk to old members of our group (joining in the 50s!) they all say that wherever they look they don't find the plancton life they used to find decades ago - today it often is just dirty water. The only positive thing is, that ordinary people have recently started to develop an interest in this problem and some even are willing to actively do something.

Bob

apochronaut
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Joined: Fri May 15, 2015 12:15 am

Re: An interesting report on ‘Calcifying Plankton’

#4 Post by apochronaut » Tue Feb 11, 2020 10:22 pm

The detail about plant( algae) decay has a basis in a process that is generally misunderstood. Plant decay is a huge contributing factor in the generation of CO2 but the plant decay and therefore subsequent release of CO2 can be adjusted, mitigated or buffered by many factors. In fact, the much maligned cow, often reported in it's role as a foodstuff of choice for those of a lesser morality and who lack a climate consciousness to boot, contributes little to the CO2 total in fact. Not the 18 or so percent that the vegan lobby would like you to believe. Ten lbs. of grass fed to a cow, will contribute x amount of methane courtesy of the intestinal bacteria , which digest it, making it available for release. The same ten lbs. of grass left to decay in the field , will contribute roughly the same amount but the field will in fact be better for having the cow pasture in it and release some of it's methane back to the field as poop, so carbon can be captured yet again. Vegan poop contains potentially just as much methane per ton of cellulose consumed, by the way.
In the case of accelerated algae breakdown due to the increased acidity of the oceans, the potential for an aquatic environment to capture some carbon that might otherwise be released into the atmosphere may exist as a form of buffer temporarily but that will contribute to further acidification of the oceans.
By the way, estimates vary but worldwide rice production may contribute as much as 10% or more of greenhouse gas emissions.

charlie g
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Re: An interesting report on ‘Calcifying Plankton’

#5 Post by charlie g » Wed Feb 12, 2020 3:00 am

Thank you, thank you, Michael G for this worldview posting ...microscopy world views indeed. Figure #3 for me is so profound, with current microscopy level X-ray images, 3D computed image 'microscopy' contrasting past foram-protist shell thickness, with current times shell thickness...we inhale our oceans changes of mineral-skeletal robustness..of crucial world pelagic plankton foram-protozoans...an ominous decline in mineral shell thickness...and the problems world wide this trend flags. In the short time frame between the Global Challenger specimens of foram-protists, and the current samples of foram-protists.

Canada has had a related 'microscopy world views project' ...for long term studies of : stressors/ human stressors trends for freshwaters resources, and freshwaters ecosystems....IISD/ ELA ( International Institute for Sustainable Development/Experimental Lakes Area).

A pristine area of NW Ontario has been designated for use of multiple lakes and wetlands as laboratories...for long term ecosystem studies. An open data set produced by this research is available to the public, to academia, to researchers, and crucially..to govermants to inform crucial policy enactments...big monies/ big impacts on what we societies do ! Microscopy is a part of this profound work.

All this world-view microscopy

suggests a shout-out and 'hear, hear' for: Sir Alister Hardy, 1896-1985. Sir Alister Hardy invented a clockwork / continuos plankton recorder (CPR)...permitting snapshots of our globes oceans pelagic plankton...wow..the data sets, the siren calls in trends in our globes marine plankton! ( I think the CPR project is currently administered in Plymouth, England...with brexit..is it: UK, or England..or are both proper terms?).

thank for this easy to understand, rick link..., charlie guevara, finger lakes/US
IMG_4743.JPG
IMG_4743.JPG (82.54 KiB) Viewed 6468 times

Hobbyst46
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Joined: Mon Aug 21, 2017 9:02 pm

Re: An interesting report on ‘Calcifying Plankton’

#6 Post by Hobbyst46 » Wed Feb 12, 2020 7:49 am

apochronaut wrote:
Tue Feb 11, 2020 10:22 pm
The detail about plant( algae) decay has a basis in a process that is generally misunderstood. Plant decay is a huge contributing factor in the generation of CO2 but the plant decay and therefore subsequent release of CO2 can be adjusted, mitigated or buffered by many factors. In fact, the much maligned cow, often reported in it's role as a foodstuff of choice for those of a lesser morality and who lack a climate consciousness to boot, contributes little to the CO2 total in fact. Not the 18 or so percent that the vegan lobby would like you to believe. Ten lbs. of grass fed to a cow, will contribute x amount of methane courtesy of the intestinal bacteria , which digest it, making it available for release. The same ten lbs. of grass left to decay in the field , will contribute roughly the same amount but the field will in fact be better for having the cow pasture in it and release some of it's methane back to the field as poop, so carbon can be captured yet again. Vegan poop contains potentially just as much methane per ton of cellulose consumed, by the way.
In the case of accelerated algae breakdown due to the increased acidity of the oceans, the potential for an aquatic environment to capture some carbon that might otherwise be released into the atmosphere may exist as a form of buffer temporarily but that will contribute to further acidification of the oceans.
By the way, estimates vary but worldwide rice production may contribute as much as 10% or more of greenhouse gas emissions.
IMHO, this in principle is the most correct and appropriate viewpoint about how human activity destroys nature. Rather than trying to pinpoint individual processes, global warming is caused by global activities, be they production, mining, building, transportation and so on. I would add some "blasphemy" about energy sources, too.
MichaelG wrote:...
Thanks for the post, MichaelG. Highly relevant information.

MichaelG.
Posts: 3976
Joined: Mon Apr 10, 2017 8:24 am
Location: North Wales

Re: An interesting report on ‘Calcifying Plankton’

#7 Post by MichaelG. » Wed Feb 12, 2020 8:03 am

charlie g wrote:
Wed Feb 12, 2020 3:00 am

[…] suggests a shout-out and 'hear, hear' for: Sir Alister Hardy, 1896-1985. Sir Alister Hardy invented a clockwork / continuos plankton recorder (CPR)...permitting snapshots of our globes oceans pelagic plankton...wow..the data sets, the siren calls in trends in our globes marine plankton! ( I think the CPR project is currently administered in Plymouth, England...with brexit..is it: UK, or England..or are both proper terms?).
Thanks for the mention of Hardy’s CPR ... I must investigate further.

and, Yes ... U.K. and England both remain valid terms post-brexit
The Wikipedia page starts with a fairly comprehensible summary:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Kingdom

MichaelG.
.
.
Edit: My investigation starts here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alister_Hardy
... and quickly finds this : https://www.cprsurvey.org/services/the- ... -recorder/
Too many 'projects'

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