There is a lot I don't "get" about the dumbed-down media. Plankton is enormously prolific and I suppose that might mask the vulnerabilities for some people who have heard of plankton and know what it is. And, i think, most people's focus is on shore, and their cars and climate change denial. Stories like this piss people off because it is a hard read and, when they understand it correctly, it too often lands in their lap.

In this case, one suggestion I read was that is has to do with rising acidity.

But a plankton crash is very very serious. 

Whales are cute. What happens when their food source is gone? Have we fought to bring them back from the brink of extinction only to starve them to death?

Of course you're tuna sandwich is in danger too.... maybe that will make sense to the dullards...

I had not heard this and wonder too why it isn't bigger news.

DO they know why? or have theories?

While providing O2 it also must take up CO2 as trees do.  Hence if there is 40% less planton I wonder how much of the increase in CO2 is attributable to that demise?

Oil spills such as the current one in the Gulf result in the growth of new microrganisms.

News media mentions that these organisms will feed on the congealed oil on the oceans floor but no one truly understands what impact this will have on other life....

As a person who studies whales, I am alarmed by what the plankton die off means for my whale friends.

I am presently in Tadoussac, and saw belugas for the first time yesterday.  Also learning about the toxins that kill these beautiful creatures.  Necropsy tests on one dead beluga calf revealed 13 different types of cancers caused by the various toxic effluents in the St. Lawrence River.  Scary stuff....

Here's a scientist's account of it:

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A new article published in the 29 July issue of the international journal Nature reveals for the first time that microscopic marine algae known as "phytoplankton" have been declining globally over the 20th century. Phytoplankton forms the basis of the marine food chain and sustains diverse assemblages of species ranging from tiny zooplankton to large marine mammals, seabirds, and fish. Says lead author Daniel Boyce, "Phytoplankton is the fuel on which marine ecosystems run. A decline of phytoplankton affects everything up the food chain, including humans."

Using an unprecedented collection of historical and recent oceanographic data, a team from Canada's Dalhousie University documented phytoplankton declines of about 1% of the global average per year. This trend is particularly well documented in the Northern Hemisphere and after 1950, and would translate into a decline of approximately 40% since 1950. The scientists found that long-term phytoplankton declines were negatively correlated with rising sea surface temperatures and changing oceanographic conditions.

The goal of the three-year analysis was to resolve one of the most pressing issues in oceanography, namely to answer the seemingly simple question of whether the ocean is becoming more (or less) „green' with algae. Previous analyses had been limited to more recent satellite data (consistently available since 1997) and have yielded variable results. To extend the record into the past, the authors analysed a unique compilation of historical measurements of ocean transparency going back to the very beginning of quantitative oceanography in the late 1800s, and combined these with additional samples of phytoplankton pigment („chlorophyll') from ocean-going research vessels. The end result was a database of just under half a million observations which enabled the scientists to estimate phytoplankton trends over the entire globe going back to the year 1899.

The scientists report that most phytoplankton declines occurred in polar and tropical regions and in the open oceans where most phytoplankton production occurs. Rising sea surface temperatures were negatively correlated with phytoplankton growth over most of the globe, especially close to the equator. Phytoplankton need both sunlight and nutrients to grow; warm oceans are strongly stratified, which limits the amount of nutrients that are delivered from deeper waters to the surface ocean. Rising temperatures may contribute to making the tropical oceans even more stratified, leading to increasing nutrient limitation and phytoplankton declines. The scientists also found that large-scale climate fluctuations, such as the El-Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO), affect phytoplankton on a year-to-year basis, by changing short-term oceanographic conditions.

The findings contribute to a growing body of scientific evidence indicating that global warming is altering the fundamentals of marine ecosystems. Says co-author Marlon Lewis, "Climate-driven phytoplankton declines are another important dimension of global change in the oceans, which are already stressed by the effects of fishing and pollution. Better observational tools and scientific understanding are needed to enable accurate forecasts of the future health of the ocean." Explains co-author Boris Worm, "Phytoplankton are a critical part of our planetary life support system. They produce half of the oxygen we breathe, draw down surface CO₂, and ultimately support all of our fisheries. An ocean with less phytoplankton will function differently, and this has to be accounted for in our management efforts."

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From New Scientist magazine (check the links):

What other organisms that support entire ecosystems yet are in decline?

Top of this list are corals, which literally build habitats for thousands of other animals. They are threatened by changing ocean temperatures and ocean acidification, both triggered by humanity's greenhouse gas emissions.

Saproxylic beetles spend their time burrowing around in decaying wood and are far less attractive than coral. But they are essential for recycling nutrients, as they transform decaying matter into a form that plants can use. In Europe, at least, 24 per cent are under threat, and we would miss them if they went.

Similarly, insects such as butterflies and bees that pollinate plants are probably in decline(though the data are far from complete).

And fungi have barely been assessed at all, but along with bacteria they are the organisms that do the lion's share of decomposition, which is whiffy but essential.

In other words, never mind the pandas: it's plankton, bugs and fungi you should be worrying about.

So, are the media ignoring this story because they don't understand the implications, or are they ignoring the story because of pressure from various interests (commercial fisheries, fossil fuel companies, governments that don't want to deal with one more problem)?

I see it even in my own children, for whom a gathering of friends each sitting at a computer, and rarely talking or even looking at the others.

I think we also have to deal with a society that simply does not want to discuss anything seriously. Thus the enormous audience for sports and, increadinly, ones that strikingly resemble the circuses of ancient Rome in their emphais of real (ultimate fighting)  or fake (pro wrestling) savagery.