Article Title: The Ocean's Invisible Forest Author/Source: Paul G.

Falkowski

A: List the major ideas, concepts or key points- point by point Every drop of water in the top 100 meters of the ocean contains thousands of freefloating, microscopic flora called phytoplankton These diminutive ocean dwellers can draw the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide (CO2) out of the atmosphere and store it in the deep sea To manipulate phytoplankton populationsby adding nutrients to the oceansin an effort to mitigate global warming. . Phytoplankton and all land-dwelling plantswhich evolved from phytoplankton about 500 million years agouse the energy in sunlight to split water molecules into atoms of hydrogen and oxygen. In other words, phytoplankton draw nearly as much CO2 out of the atmosphere and oceans through photosynthesis as do trees, grasses and all other land plants combined. As phytoplankton cells divideevery six days on averagehalf the daughter cells die or are eaten by zooplankton, miniature animals that in turn provide food for shrimp, sh and larger carnivores. When released below about 200 meters, CO2 stays put for much longer because the colder temperatureand higher densityof this water prevents it from mixing with the warmer waters above.

Phytoplankton draw nearly as much CO2 out of the oceans and atmosphere as all land plants do

By burning fossil fuels, people are bringing buried carbon back into circulation about a million times faster than volcanoes do.

According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, severe oxygen depletion and other problems triggered by nutrient runoff have already degraded more than half the coastal waters in the U.S., such as the infamous dead zone in the northern Gulf of Mexico

B: Summarize the AUTHORs main point or idea- at LEAST 1-2 paragraph This article was about how important phytoplankton to the ocean and marine organism. Every drop of water in the top 100 meters of the ocean contains thousands of free-floating, microscopic floras called phytoplankton. Phytoplankton takes CO2 from the atmosphere, and then converts it into organic matter through photosynthesis. The amount of Carbon Dioxide that is taken in by phytoplankton is around 45-50 billion metric tons.

C: Write a reaction paragraph to the article stating your own thoughts on the topic, using specific citations from the article to support your views Through this article, I think that phytoplankton play an important role in the ocean and natural, that because it helps the ocean from high amount of CO2 in the atmosphere, it takes away CO2 and converts it into oxygen through photosynthesis. It helps us have a clear air, and reduced air

pollution. But the author also said By burning fossil fuels, people are bringing buried carbon back into circulation about a million times faster than volcanoes do. Forests and phytoplankton cannot absorb CO2 fast enough to keep pace with these increases, and atmospheric concentrations of this greenhouse gas have risen rapidly, thereby almost certainly contributing signicantly to the global warming trend of the past 50 years. I believe that if people reduced the carbon dioxide then we can have our ocean and environment back, especially that we can keep phytoplankton as a key stone of the ocean.

So What?

Say Who?

Phytoplankton is one of the smallest and most University researchers plentiful organisms. Phytoplankton is important. They require sunlight, water and nutrients for growth, similar to land-based plants. Food for fish. Takes CO2 Create oxygen. Edwards A. Laws of the University of Hawaii Biological Oceanographers Christopher B. Field and James T. Randerson of the Carnegie Institution of Washington and Michael J. Entrepreneurs and policymakers

What If? What if the phytoplankton didnt exist? There is more acidic in the ocean

What Does This Remind Me Of? This reminds me of The Lorax because if we dont respect what we have then we will never

The air would not be clear without get it back. Just like if we dont respect the phytoplankton ocean then we will make it worse.

The fish will not as much as it was