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Environment
Beatrix Beisner, Professor, Aquatic ecology, Université du Québec à Montréal (UQAM)

Climate change may cause lake phytoplankton to become predatory, putting more CO2 into the atmosphere

(Shutterstock)

Plankton — tiny organisms that are present in salt and freshwater — account for about half of the photosynthesis on the planet. But what scientists have assumed for many years to be plant plankton (phytoplankton) may actually be voracious predators.

In lakes, plankton prey on single-celled bacteria that are in turn responsible for recycling nutrients that keep lake food webs functioning.

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