A rash of projects probing everything from life under the Arctic ice to the global movements of marine mammals is providing the information that conservationists badly need. It is now clear that hotspots do exist even out in the open ocean. However, these are not quite like their counterparts on land. For a start, they do not necessarily stay in the same place. Places with the highest biodiversity may not be the best habitats for the species that live there. Meanwhile, some seemingly inhospitable areas turn out to be thronging with life.

An oil spill was simulated in microcosms in the laboratory using phytoplankton assemblage collected from Versova, Mumbai. Bombay High Crude oil, water-soluble fraction and water-dispersed fraction were added to respective tanks. Their effect was investigated on various parameters like primary productivity, growth and biomass of the phytoplankton at different time intervals.

The relationship between natural variations in coral species diversity, reef development and ecosystem function on coral reefs is poorly understood. Recent coral diversity varies 10-fold among geographic regions, but rates of poor growth are broadly similar, suggesting that diversity is unimportant for reef development.

An overview is provided of the observed and potential future responses of zooplankton communities to global warming. The researcher begins by describing the importance of zooplankton in ocean ecosystems and the attributes that make them sensitive beacons of climate change. Global warming may have even greater repercussions for marine ecosystems than for terrestrial ecosystems, because temperature influences water column stability, nutrient enrichment, and the degree of new production, and thus the abundance, size composition, diversity, and trophic efficiency of zooplankton.