{"id":28421,"date":"2025-10-24T10:54:05","date_gmt":"2025-10-24T08:54:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.cerege.fr\/?p=28421"},"modified":"2025-10-24T16:22:47","modified_gmt":"2025-10-24T14:22:47","slug":"calcifying-plankton-tiny-marine-organisms-at-the-heart-of-the-earths-climate","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.cerege.fr\/en\/les-planctons-calcifiants-de-minuscules-organismes-marins-au-coeur-du-climat-terrestre\/","title":{"rendered":"Calcifying plankton: tiny marine organisms at the heart of the Earth's climate"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Sonia Chaabane<\/a> (CR, IRD) and Thibault De Garidel<\/a> (DR, CNRS) have taken part in an international study highlighting the major role played by calcifying plankton in the ocean carbon cycle and in climate regulation. Published this week in Science<\/i>, This review reveals that these essential marine organisms are vastly under-represented in the climate models used to predict the future of our planet.<\/strong><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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Microscopic engineers
but essential<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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Coccolithophores, foraminifera and pteropods, better known as calcifying plankton, build tiny shells from calcium carbonate (CaCO\u2083). These shells play a key role in the transfer of carbon from the atmosphere to the ocean depths and influence the chemistry of seawater. Together, these organisms regulate the Earth's \u201cthermostat\u201d and help stabilise the climate. \u00abPlankton shells may be tiny, but together they shape the chemistry of our oceans and the climate of our planet\u00bb, stresses the scientist. Patrizia Ziveri<\/span>, principal author of the study.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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Sample of calcifying plankton collected in the Bay of Marseille <\/i>(October 2025) aboard the N\/O Antedon II by Julie Meilland<\/a> (CEREGE) \u00a9<\/i>Jaime Suarez-Ilbara<\/a><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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Climate models still incomplete<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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The researchers warn that current models underestimate the diversity and processes associated with these plankton, in particular the surface dissolution of calcium carbonate in the upper layers of the ocean. Ignoring these dynamics risks oversimplifying the response of the oceans to climate change. \u00abWe are only just beginning to understand just how diverse calcifying plankton are and how different their responses to environmental change can be\u00bb, explains Sonia Chaabane<\/span><\/a>, IRD research officer at CEREGE<\/span> and co-author of the study. \u00abBy linking their biology to global carbon dynamics, we can better understand how the ocean buffers climate change - and how fragile this balance is.\u00bb<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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Emilana huxleyi Marseille Nov. 2023 30m \u00a9<\/i>Luc Beaufort<\/a><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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A scientific and ecological emergency<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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The study highlights the need to accurately quantify the production, dissolution and export of calcium carbonate specific to each group of plankton, and to better integrate these dynamics into climate models. This will make it possible to obtain more reliable projections of carbon storage and future impacts on ecosystems and societies. \u00abIf we ignore the smallest organisms in the ocean, we risk missing out on essential climate dynamics,\u00bb concludes Patrizia Ziveri.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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Reference<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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Ziveri P, Langer G, Chaabane S, de Vries J, Gray WR, Keul N, Hatton IA, Manno C, Norris R, Pallacks S, Young JR, Schiebel R, Zarkogiannis S, Anglada-Ortiz G, Bianco S, de Garidel-Thoron T, Grelaud M, Lucas A, Probert I, Mortyn PG, 2025, Calcifying plankton: from biomineralization to global change, Science.<\/em><\/p>

doi:<\/em> 10.1126\/science.adq8520<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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\n\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tConsult the publication<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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\n\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tArticle - OSU Pytheas<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Sonia Chaabane (CR, IRD) et Thibault De Garidel (DR, CNRS) ont particip\u00e9 \u00e0 une \u00e9tude internationale qui met en lumi\u00e8re le r\u00f4le majeur des planctons calcifiants dans le cycle du […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":817,"featured_media":28422,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-28421","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-actualite"],"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-05-16 11:05:32","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cerege.fr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28421","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cerege.fr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cerege.fr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cerege.fr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/817"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cerege.fr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=28421"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.cerege.fr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28421\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":28474,"href":"https:\/\/www.cerege.fr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28421\/revisions\/28474"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cerege.fr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/28422"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cerege.fr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=28421"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cerege.fr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=28421"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cerege.fr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=28421"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}