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Ocean Drifters: A Secret World Beneath the Waves

Front Cover
4 Reviews
Firefly Books, Limited, 2011 - Nature - 192 pages

"Beasts that look as if they come from a science-fiction movie."
-- The Times (UK)

Beneath the waves lies a hidden microcosm of life: the world of plankton. These microscopic algae and the tiny animals that eat them float freely in the sunlit surface of the sea, where they underpin the whole marine food chain, provide the world with oxygen, and play an essential role in the global carbon cycle. Richard Kirby's high-magnification photographs and informative text bring out the beauty and variety of forms in the plankton, and explain how global change and rising sea temperatures are affecting this complex world with ramifications for the ecology of our entire planet.

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Review: Ocean Drifters: A Secret World Beneath the Waves

User Review  - Abby - Goodreads

This is a field trip to another world, which is what I was after when I checked it out. The photographs are fantastic, although the writing is too jargon-y for general audiences (such as myself). Also ... Read full review

Review: Ocean Drifters: A Secret World Beneath the Waves

User Review  - Juliana - Goodreads

So amazing to think of what might be living in a drop of seawater— and so amazing to see actual photographs of them. Read full review

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About the author (2011)

Dr. Richard Kirby is a molecular geneticist who has worked in the U.S. at the Hopkins Marine Station in California and the Belle W. Baruch Institute of Marine and Coastal Sciences in South Carolina. He currently holds a Royal Society Research Fellowship at the University of Plymouth in the UK.

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