Decreasing phytoplankton size adversely affects ocean food chains

Abstract

Skilful projection of the impacts of global changes on marine systems depends on better representation of the mechanisms that link processes across scales from the sub-microscopic to the oceanic. The diversity, complexity and range of scales over which the life histories of bacteria, primary producers and animals play out in the oceans makes this is a daunting challenge. However, a recent paper on the increasing abundance of picocyanobacteria in NE Atlantic shelf waters in summer (Schmidt et al. 2020) provides an example of our ability to observe and interpret across a huge range of scales.