Link: http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=52343

The oceans are the lifeblood of our planet and plankton its red blood cells. Those vital "red blood cells" have declined more than 40 percent since 1950 and the rate of decline is increasing due to climate change, scientists reported this week. "Phytoplankton are a critical part of our planetary life support system. They produce half of the oxygen we breathe, draw down surface CO2, and ultimately support all of our fisheries," said Boris Worm of Canada's Dalhousie University and one of the world's leading experts on the global oceans. "An ocean with less phytoplankton will function differently," said Worm, the co-author of a new study on plankton published this week in Nature.