Plankton provide the single largest source of oxygen and carbon sequestration on this planet all while nourishing the largest mammal on Earth, the blue whale. With the rise in temperature and acidity in the ocean an urgent question emerges; how will the environmental changes affect the plankton’s ability to maintain these global processes and provide the foundation of the world’s food web? Join us in our conversation with Dr. Malinda Sutor, from the Department of Oceanography and Coastal Sciences in the College of Coast & Environment, as we cover a range of topics including the challenges of quantifying zooplankton to her research into this puzzling question to the importance of quantifying these organisms from a national defense perspective.