Seas to absorb greenhouse gas, but food chain hit

"This is a massive and surprising change in the carbon content of these organisms," said Ulf Riebesell, a marine biologist at the Leibnitz Institute of Marine Sciences in Kiel, Germany, who led the German and Norwegian experiments.

Other studies have shown that the oceans have soaked up almost half of the carbon dioxide emitted by burning fossil fuels since the Industrial Revolution, but few have looked at how greenhouse gases may affect life in the oceans in future.

The study was good news for the climate by indicating plankton could help absorb ever more carbon, helping brake rising temperatures that the U.N. climate panel says will bring more heatwaves, storms, droughts and floods.

But Riebesell said