The Plankton-Climate Connection

For more than 31/2 billion years, the earth has provided the exact mix of water, gases and temperature that life, as we know it, requires for existence. Is this a fortuitous occurrence? Has life been riding around on a huge piece of rock that has luckily furnished suitable accommodation? Or has life taken part in the process, creating for itself a cozy environment that can support plankton, pandas and a panoply of other earthly organisms? These are the questions raised by a controversial theory called the Gaia hypothesis. Proposed in the early 1970s by British scientist James E. Lovelock, working with biologist Lynn Margulis of Boston University, the Gaia hypothesis states that life has regulated and stabilized the environment, keeping it within the narrow bounds that allow life to continue. And now, microscopic marine plants are floating into the Gaia debate. Evidence is emerging that these onecelled plants, called plankton, are at least partially responsible for setting the temperature of the earth. And the new findings are enhancing scientists' understanding of how life can influence the global climate. The discovery of a previously unknown plankton-climate connection is enough to raise the eyebrows of many scientists. But it's only part of the story