Community changes centuries in the making How might climate change affect the base of the marine food chain? Phytoplankton, the foundation of the marine ecosystem, depend on ambient oceanographic conditions such as temperature, salinity, and nutrient availability, which affect ocean chemistry and isotopic distributions. McMahon et al. report carbon isotopic composition changes in the North Pacific Ocean over the past 1000 years, which reflect changes in the community composition of phytoplankton in the region (see the Perspective by Vogt). An ongoing trend toward greater prevalence of nitrogen-fixing cyanobacteria that began 100 years ago might lead to a more efficient carbon pump and remove increasing amounts of CO ₂ from the atmosphere. Science , this issue p. 1530 ; see also p. 1466