Since diatoms are at the very bottom of the food chain, waters rich in diatoms can support a lot of larger life forms as well.
"On the basis of our findings, we can say that it is likely that a future Arctic Ocean free of summer sea ice will also be highly productive," said Kemp.
While more diatoms during the summer does not mean that larger animals will spontaneously appear in the Arctic over the coming decades, it could give species that currently live further south an incentive to move into the region by providing them with food.
The most likely scenario is one in which larger species migrate to the Arctic in the summer to feed on the enriched summer food chain, then move back south during the dark winters.
"The outcome would depend on organisms at all levels of the food chain moving in to exploit this potential," said Kemp. "What is unpredictable is what species from elsewhere may migrate in to fill the new ecological niches," he added.
Source-ANI
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