Walk on the Ocean and the Phytoplankton Lesson

Antarctica's simple ecosystem and lack of biodiversity make it, Doshi says, the perfect place to study how tiny changes in the environment can have big repercussions. She points to the microscopic phytoplankton — the "grasses of the sea" — single-celled plants that use the sun's energy to assimilate carbon and synthesise organic compounds through photosynthesis, and that nourish and sustain the entire Southern Ocean's food chain. Scientists warn that a further depletion in the ozone layer will affect the activities of phytoplankton, which in turn will affect all the marine animals and birds of the region and the global carbon cycle. In this "parable of the phytoplankton" she finds a great metaphor for existence: take care of the small things and the big things will fall into place. …