But it’s not - that was a global map, this is a local selection of an extreme event. Even if the papers thesis is correct, that average plankton counts are collapsing, there’s no reason to believe you won’t continue to see variances and even extremes.
The writing and language used aside they’ve found something worth trying to verify. They collected a bunch of samples from a lot of places and expected to find a lot more life than they did. This is concerning because it could mean some dire situation reflecting on the health of the entire earth. Seems like reasonable research that spurs further research, but I think if their observations are consistent with future research this would be a pretty serious situation.
I didn't say it did, but if you can see blooms from space still, that suggests that they are not "all but gone." They may be significantly reduced, but nowhere near "gone."
If the scientists had made falsifiable predictions about WHEN they expected the population to drop, or the RATE of decline, then we would have something to discuss scientifically.
Instead we get extreme rhetoric that is likely an exageration, that helps convince noone.
I think you're underestimating the size of the Atlantic Ocean. Both things can be happening at the same time.
> If the scientists had made falsifiable predictions about WHEN they expected the population to drop, or the RATE of decline, then we would have something to discuss scientifically.
On this we agree.
> Instead we get extreme rhetoric that is likely an exageration, that helps convince noone.
Is it really? We're in the middle of a mass extinction caused by our activities:
The Holocene extinction, otherwise referred to as the sixth mass extinction or Anthropocene extinction,[3][4] is an ongoing extinction event of species during the present Holocene epoch (with the more recent time sometimes called Anthropocene) as a result of human activity.[5][6][7][8] The included extinctions span numerous families of bacteria, fungi, plants[9][10][11] and animals, including mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians, fish and invertebrates. With widespread degradation of highly biodiverse habitats such as coral reefs and rainforests, as well as other areas, the vast majority of these extinctions are thought to be undocumented, as the species are undiscovered at the time of their extinction, or no one has yet discovered their extinction. The current rate of extinction of species is estimated at 100 to 1,000 times higher than natural background extinction rates.[15]
This has been going on for a very long time and there's clear signs the rate of environmental destruction is accelerating. At some point we will lose the fish and cetaceans. There is no doubt about that. To say that this time has finally come is not such an extraordinary claim.
Anyway I'm sure that scientists have been warning about this (the destruction of the oceans' ability to sustain life) for decades and nothing has been done. It makes sense that, either those scientists were wrong in their warnings, or fish and marine mammals will die out, sooner or later. So what makes it extraordinary?
I mean, that's why people say destroying the environment is not a good idea, right?
It follows pretty directly from the absence of plankton, eh?
I don't doubt that there are people out there monitoring plankton levels from satellite images, and they could probably clear things up on where we actually stand in re: ocean life and trends thereof. But not a few randos on reddit, eh?
