TIMES RECORD • June 20, 2024
A team of Boothbay researchers examined 60 years of data (1958–2015) on microscopic plankton in the North Atlantic. In a study published in “Frontiers of Marine Science,” the researchers contributed the first basin-level view of how the distribution of mixotrophs varies, detecting an increase in abundance as the Gulf of Maine warms. The study confirms that the ocean is changing at the molecular level, and since mixotrophs are flexible in how they get food, they possess resilience to global warming. If mixotrophs replaced the base of the planktonic food web, it would impact all oceanic life, including local seafood and the imperiled right whales that Maine is federally required to protect. Plus, microbial life in the ocean produces half the oxygen on Earth. Huge changes in the planktonic community would alter how much oxygen is available for humans to breathe.