WR.. you're referring to terrestrial plants. Drought has been common throughout recorded, and un-recorded, history.. Nothing new there.. Water availability is a critical "LIMITING FACTOR" to terrestrial plant growth..
But don't you think they would grow if there was sufficient water, either natural rainfall, or via irrigation? Yep..
And btw, most of those crops are NOT natural.. They were planted by humans in areas where they are not native.. In fact, most crops today look nowhere near their non-genetically modified ancestors.
So ocean phytoplankton NEVER face drought conditions. Their limiting factors are availability of nutrients, particularly Iron for the production of Chlorophyll, and to a much lesser extent, water temperature.
Provide that Iron to them and only the availability of dissolved CO2 in the surrounding ocean waters, and nitrogen (nitrates) will limit their growth.
But we need to emphasize the growth of certain phytoplankton, such as Diatoms, which sink to the ocean depths as marine snow, when they die.
In sum, water (and nutrients) is a limiting factor to terrestrial plant growth, whereas only nutrients and Iron are limiting factors to Phytoplankton, which are responsible for 50% of global photosynthesis, whereby CO2 is converted to solid Carbon.
Startng to get it now?
Hawk |
