★A book about plancton, the organisms at the base of the food pyramid and responsible for much of the oxygen production and carbon dioxide uptake essential for life on the planet.
★English sample avaialable.

Plankton – from the Greek planktós meaning “wande-rer”, “wandering” – consists of all those organisms mo-stly invisible to the human eye that float on the surface of the ocean: bacteria, viruses and algae, jellyfish, fish, cru-staceans and other invertebrates in their early life stages before the great metamorphosis.
Although vagabonds by definition, their movements can be “organized” when searching for food and fleeing pre-dators. Their strategies to survive include bright colors, sudden jerks and long waits below the illuminated surfa-ce and, most importantly, bioluminescence, which is also a means of communication based on the same prin-ciple followed by mariners, who use light intervals to send messages and make their position known at sea. While we can observe this microworld even with a lens and a smartphone, we are still a long way from understanding it completely. For many aspects it still is a world of alien fascination, who-se role in our daily lives, however, is more primary than we suspect. Silent microcosm recounts the different types of plankton, how they function, their relationships with water and currents and with other marine creatu-res, trace the intersection with human beings in their biological, vital and social aspects, and the impact that the actions that human beings take, with their conse-quences, have on the entire ecosystem.

Giorgia Bollati is a scientific journalist. She writes for “Corriere della Sera” on the pages of Planet 2030, and is involved in science popularization and moderation for events related to issues of environmental well-being, cli-mate and the animal and plant world.

Marta Musso is a marine biologist, sailor, illustrator and TEDXspeaker. She popularizes science with workshops, lectures and creation of educational materials with the traveling ocean literacy project Possea, post from the sea, pos(sea)ble, with which she won the IOC-Unseco ‘Woman of the Sea 2022’ award.