Scientists Want To 'Fertilize The Oceans Like Farmers Fertilize Crops.' These Tiny Organisms Are Helping Them

Scientists Want To 'Fertilize The Oceans Like Farmers Fertilize Crops.' These Tiny Organisms Are Helping Them

Scientists Want To 'Fertilize The Oceans Like Farmers Fertilize Crops.' These Tiny Organisms Are Helping Them This story was originally published by Grist . Sign up for Grist’s weekly newsletter here . ‍ Some of the littlest organisms in the ocean wield incredible influence, both on their ecosystems and on the planet. Like plants do on land, phytoplankton absorb sunlight and carbon dioxide and expel oxygen. They process so much of those two gases, in fact, that they’re responsible for half of the carbon sequestered by photosynthesis worldwide and half of the oxygen in the atmosphere. Phytoplankton also sit at the base of the food web as essential cuisine for their animal counterparts, the zooplankton, which in turn feed many other creatures, from fishes to crustaceans. As humanity lags far behind where it should be in reducing its greenhouse gas emissions, researchers are turning to phytoplankton for help. They’re exploring how to fertilize the oceans like farmers fertilize crops, h…