Impacts of climate change on Australian marine life - Part C: Literature Review

Abstract

The illuminated zone of coastal and oceanic waters is inhabited by a great diversity of tiny, usually single-celled, microscopic algae known as phytoplankton. Like all plants, phytoplankton utilise sun light, water, and dissolved CO2 and nutrients to grow and reproduce. Phytoplankton usually occur at densities of a few hundred to hundreds of thousands of cells per litre of seawater. In favourable conditions the concentration can increase to several million cells per litre which may become apparent as algal blooms.