Continued warming of UK waters is likely to cause major changes to plankton, the tiny drifting plants and animals that form the foundation of marine food webs, scientists have warned. Plankton are the foundation of all marine life, feeding fish and storing carbonClimate change is damaging populations of tiny drifting plants and animals that feed the fish humans eat, according to marine scientists. Plankton are the foundation of marine ecosystems, capturing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, and providing the food that sustains fish, seabirds and marine mammals. For example, smaller plankton and microbial species are increasingly replacing larger, more nutritious plankton, changing the rate at which energy moves through marine food webs. As plankton species’ populations shift further north as habitat conditions change, fish and other marine wildlife will follow, the scientists say.