One type of red tide studied by Scripps scientists is composed of harmful algal blooms. The tiny algae forming these blooms contain potent neurotoxins that accumulate in the shellfish that feed upon them. People consuming these shellfish may experience numbness, nausea, or even death if the dose is large enough. Monitoring the Ocean Food Web Scripps scientists use satellite remote sensing and modeling applications to study the distribution and dynamics of phytoplankton in the world's oceans.
Phytoplankton are microscopic floating algae, which form the base of the ocean food web.
They are responsible for approximately one-half of global photosynthesis and play a vital role in stabilizing atmospheric carbon dioxide. Understanding the role of phytoplankton in the marine carbon cycle is essential to predicting the ocean's response to climate change. Satellite ocean color sensors provide the means of acquiring this necessary data on a global basis. In the 1940s, the sardine fishery, California's largest, failed. Scientists could not agree on whether the collapse was caused by overfishing or by natural changes in the environment.