Emily Chan
Billions of years before plants and animals evolved into being, tiny creatures called “prokaryotes” existed on Earth.
These microscopic organisms cannot be seen by the human eye, and they make up 30 percent of life in the world’s oceans.
The organisms are important as they help maintain the balance of the ocean ecosystem, but new research has found that climate change could upset this balance.
Prokaryotes are incredibly resilient to climate change. As a result, they could take over marine environments, reducing the availability of fish and interfering with the ocean’s ability to absorb carbon emissions.
Prokaryotes consist of bacteria and another type of single-celled organism known as “archaea.” They are believed to be the oldest cell-based life forms on Earth.
They thrive on land and in water all over the world. For every human that exists on the planet, there are about two tons of marine prokaryotes.
They grow extremely quickly, emitting a lot of carbon in the process. Prokaryotes at an ocean depth of around 656 feet generate 20 billion tons of carbon per year, which is double what humans produce.
Phytoplankton—another microscopic organism that turns sunlight and carbon dioxide into energy through photosynthesis—helps offset carbon production.
Phytoplankton, along with other ocean processes, absorb up to a third of the carbon that humans release into the atmosphere each year, helping to slow down the rates of global warming.
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