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Seafarer science: Sailors asked to help measure plankton
Scientists are enlisting sailors and fishermen to help with what they hope will be the world's biggest study of plankton in the oceans.
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Researchers at Plymouth University's Marine Institute want seafarers to help measure the quantity of plankton.
The results will "help us understand how life in the oceans is changing", said project leader, Dr Richard Kirby.
Scientists fear that the population of phytoplankton in the world's oceans is being affected by rising sea temperatures, with a paper published in the journal Nature in 2010 controversially suggesting that it had declined by as much as 40% since the 1950s due to climate change.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-21547272
