I think the article "Phytoplankton Population Drops 40 Percent Since 1950" by Scientific American was the most accurate and unbiased story. It supported it's facts with evidence and explained the decrease of phytoplankton in a factual way, that was successful in convincing the reader in the dangers of life without them.
The story in 2010 discusses the alarming drop in phytoplankton. Although, it was too soon for the scientists to be sure of what the after all effect of the drop will be, they tried their best to guess. Unfortunately, there was no way to prove it. The story in 2013 discussed the new invented tools used to watch the decrease in phytoplankton. They used a Secchi disk to observe the phytoplankton.""This new algorithm allows us to detect changes in plankton numbers that have previously gone unnoticed," said Johnson."""Algorithm finds missing phytoplankton in Southern Ocean." Algorithm finds missing phytoplankton in Southern Ocean. N.p., n.d. Web. 28 Feb. 2014. <http://www.phys.org/print298715250.html> But even in 2013, the scientists were unable to predict the effect of the constant decrease in phytoplankton.
The main concern about phytoplankton continuing to decrease is the fact that they support the entire marine life ecosystem. They are at the bottom of the food chain and if they were to become extinct, the animals would all start to die off. Even for us humans, it would be horrifying. Because of the phytoplankton 50% of the worlds Co2 is kept at the bottom of the ocean because of these little sea creatures. They even produce as much oxygen as trees. Without them, our way of life would be greatly affected.
The thought of all phytoplankton becoming extinct is incredibly upsetting. They are the base of the marine food web and benefit us humans more than we realize. It's even more upsetting to think that part of the reason why they are decreasing is because of global warming, which is a biproduct of us humans killing the ozone layer.
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