Organisms interact with each other and the physical environment. In a short essay (100–150 words), explain how the response of diatom populations to a drop in nutrient availability can affect both other organisms and aspects of the physical environment (such as carbon dioxide concentrations).

Diatoms are the photosynthetic alga, which corresponds with their surrounding physical environment, and are found primarily in aquatic regions. Diatoms can photosynthesize, which means they can transform dissolved carbon dioxide in water into oxygen.

Higher-order species in the food chain, such as invertebrates and small fish, eat diatoms as a primary food source. Diatoms can also play an essential role in the energy and nutrient cycles of oceans and marine systems.

When the population of diatoms drops as the concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere rises, additionally, energy flow across the marine ecosystem food web is diminished, harming other marine creatures.

Diatoms regulate their population number without nutrition by secreting diatom-derived molecules and triggering cell death. They are responsible for over half of all carbon fixations by plants; their extinction could diminish carbon fixation and energy flow across the system, contributing to global warming.