Researcher says plankton vital to climate change

TIM JEANES: They may be only tiny, but the combined effects of plankton removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, while also helping create clouds, has a huge impact on world climate. For these and other reasons, Professor Gustaaf Hallegraeff believes plankton deserves much greater attention.

GUSTAAF HALLEGRAEFF: Been at it now for 30 years, and I've become more and more convinced that these organisms are at least as important, and probably even more important than the big plants and the big animals that we big humans on the land are so familiar with.

TIM JEANES: Professor Hallegraeff is the Professor of Aquatic Botany at the University of Tasmania, and the author of the new book Plankton - A Critical Creation. He says dramatic changes are happening in the world's oceans, particular in those off southern Australia.

GUSTAAF HALLEGRAEFF: These are the drivers of global climate in this time of considerable environmental change. We need to know who these organisms are, how they are going to respond, and if you ignore these organisms, we do so at our own peril.

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