Earth’s oldest, tiniest creatures are poised to be climate change winners

illuminem summarizes for you the essential news of the day. Read the full piece on The Conversation or enjoy below:

🗞️ Driving the news: Research reveals that microscopic ocean organisms, called prokaryotes, are likely to thrive under climate change, potentially dominating marine ecosystems
• This shift could reduce fish populations and the oceans' ability to absorb carbon emissions, exacerbating climate challenges

🔭 The context: Prokaryotes, which include ancient bacteria and archaea, are essential to oceanic food chains and carbon cycling
• Unlike larger marine life, prokaryotes are highly resilient to warming, suggesting a future imbalance in marine ecosystems where they outcompete other species

🌍 Why it matters for the planet: Increased prokaryote dominance may lower fish stocks, a critical food source for billions, and hinder the ocean’s capacity to mitigate climate change by absorbing carbon

⏭️ What's next: The potential rise in prokaryote populations and carbon emissions necessitates urgent refinement of climate models and strategies to mitigate impacts on global fish stocks and carbon sequestration

💬 One quote: “Prokaryotes are likely to be climate change winners, relative to other marine life.” — Ryan Heneghan, Researcher

📈 One stat: For every degree of warming, prokaryotes could produce an additional 800 million tonnes of carbon annually, matching the current emissions of the EU

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