Sunday, May 17, 2015

Plankton - could we live without them...??

Ran across an excellent website by Dr. Richard Kirby www.PlanktonPundit.org. Dr. Kirby is a plankton scientist and science communicator based in the UK.  It's easy to overlook these tiny plants and creatures, but we are beginning to realize that plankton are fundamental to life on earth as we know it.



I can highly recommend Dr. Kirby's website; he does a great job of explaining and illustrating how plankton influence the marine food web from fish to whales, and from penguins to polar bears.  He also shows how plankton are responsible for the oxygen in every second breath we take!!
The Ocean Drifters video is excellent. "Ocean Drifters, a secret world beneath the waves" is a short film about plankton written, produced and directed by Dr Richard Kirby (Marine Institute Research Fellow, Plymouth University) with a narration by Sir David Attenborough and music by Richard Grassby-Lewis.
Drawing upon Richard Kirby's plankton imagery, Ocean Drifters reveals how the plankton have shaped life on Earth and continue to influence our lives in ways that most of us never imagine.
Further information about the plankton can also be found at the Ocean Drifters website (oceandrifters.org) and in the popular book about plankton also titled "Ocean Drifters, a secret world beneath the waves".