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Plankton and Courage

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A Philosophical View of the Ocean and Humanity
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Abstract

After discussing oxygen, we turn to the plankton that forms the basis of the marine food web. There are many different forms of plankton and with large genetic variation, giving plankton great resistance to environmental changes. Plankton provides extraordinary ecosystem services by taking up carbon dioxide and releasing oxygen, as well as serving as the basis of higher trophic levels. The connection to the ocean in this chapter is through the epic poem The Kalevala, inspiring us to review our knowledge sources and reminding us that humans were born in the ocean. We learn that plankton is the basis of life in the ocean and that storytelling and dreaming constitute the basis of mental health.

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Correspondence to Anders Omstedt .

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Omstedt, A. (2020). Plankton and Courage. In: A Philosophical View of the Ocean and Humanity. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-36680-3_10

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