#cladocera

#043 - Zestdrop

Living high among the clouds, these microscopic creatures rain from above after a life of energetic swimming! At some point, they are filled with too much Zest for Life for their small bodies, so they must fall to share it with the creatures below!

If you're out under the rain and one of them falls on you, you'll be overcome with a love for being alive!!!

After disposing of their excess energy, they hitch rides on Evaporise to get back in the clouds and swim happily for more days to come!

RISING CARBON DIOXIDE LEVELS ARE ACIDIFYING FRESHWATER ECOSYSTEMS TOO

As ocean acidification, the excess of CO2 emitted into the atmosphere is having a bad effect on freshwater ecosystems, according to a study published in Current Biology.

According to researchers, some freshwater ecosystems have become more acidic with the increase in pCO2 (partial pressure of CO2) and, in laboratory studies, the increases of pCO2 freshwater can have detrimental effects on at least one key species, specifically water flea, a small freshwater crustacean, leaving it less able to detect and defend against predators. The findings suggest that the increase in CO2 levels may be having widespread effects on freshwater ecosystems.

Using monitoring data for 30 years, scientists report a change in pH of around 0.3 in 35 years, suggesting that freshwater can be acidified at a faster rate than the oceans.

Water flea (Daphnia magna) in PloS Biology