A Discordant Sea: Global Warming and its Effect on Marine Populations

Apr 10 2008 Global warming, an increase in the earth's average atmospheric temperature that causes corresponding changes in climate, is a growing environmental issue caused by the influx of human industry and agriculture in the mid-twentieth-century to the present. As greenhouse gases such as CO2 and methane are released into the atmosphere, a shield forms around our Earth, trapping heat inside of our planet and therefore creating a general warming effect. One of the most influenced territories of warming has been our oceans. Rising air temperatures affect the physical nature of our oceans. As air temperatures rise, water becomes less dense and separates from a nutrient-filled cold layer below. This is the basis for a chain effect that impacts all marine life who count on these nutrients for survival. There are two general physical effects of ocean warming on marine populations that are crucial to consider:

Changes in natural habitats and food supply Changing ocean chemistry/acidification

Changes in Natural Habitats and Food Supply

Photosynthesis Phytoplankton, one-celled plants that live at the ocean surface, and algae use photosynthesis for nutrient fulfillment. Photosynthesis is a process that removes carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and converts it into organic carbon and oxygen that feeds almost every ecosystem. According to a recent NASA study, phytoplankton is more likely to thrive in cooler oceans. Similarly, algae, a plant that produces food for other marine life through photosynthesis, is vanishing due to ocean warming. Since oceans are warmer, nutrients are blocked from traveling upward to these suppliers that are limited to a small surface layer and therefore cannot supplement marine life with necessary organic carbon and oxygen. Yearly Growth Cycles Various plants and animals in our oceans need both a temperature and light balance in order to thrive. Temperature-driven creatures, such as Phytoplankton, have started their yearly growth cycle earlier in the season due to warming oceans. Light-driven creatures start their yearly growth cycle around the same time. Since Phytoplankton is thriving in earlier seasons, the entire food chain is affected. Animals that once traveled to the surface for food are now finding an area void of nutrients and light-driven creatures are starting their growth cycles at different times. This creates a non-synchronous natural environment.

Migration The warming of oceans may also lead to migration of organisms along the east and west coasts. Heat-tolerant species, such as shrimp, will expand northward, while heat-intolerant species, such as clams and flounder, will retreat northward. This migration will lead to a new mix of organisms in an entirely new environment, ultimately causing changes in predatory habits. If some organisms cannot adapt to their new marine environment, they will not flourish and die off.

Changing Ocean Chemistry/Acidification

General Acidification As carbon dioxide is being released into the ocean, the ocean chemistry drastically changes. Greater CO2 concentrations released into our oceans create increased ocean acidity. As ocean acidity increases, Phytoplankton is reduced. This results in less ocean plants able to uptake greenhouse gases. Also, increased ocean acidity threatens marine life, such as corals and shellfish, which may become extinct later this century from the chemical effects of CO2. Acidification Effect on Coral Reefs Coral, one of the leading sources for the ocean's food and livelihood, is also changing with the onset of global warming. Naturally, coral secretes tiny shells of calcium carbonate in order to form its skeleton. Yet, as CO2 from global warming is released into the atmosphere, acidification increases and the carbonate ions vanish. This results in lower extension rates or weaker skeletons in most corals. Coral Bleaching Coral bleaching, the breakdown in the symbiotic relationship between coral and algae, is also occurring with warmer ocean temperatures. Since Zooxanthellae, or algae, give coral its particular coloration, increased CO2 in our oceans causes coral stress and a release of this algae. This leads to a lighter appearance. When this relationship that is so important for our ecosystem to survive vanishes, corals begin to weaken. Consequently, food and habitats for a great number of marine life are also destroyed.

Holocene Climatic Optimum

This drastic climate change and its effect on surrounding wildlife is not news to us. The Holocene Climatic Optimum, a general warming period displayed in our fossil record from 9,000 to 5,000 B.P., proves that climate change can directly impact nature's inhabitants. In 10,500 B.P., younger dryas, a plant that was once spread throughout the world in various cold climates, became near extinct due to this warming period. Towards the end of the warming period, this plant that so much of nature had depended on was only to be found in the few areas that remained cold. Just as younger dryas became scarce in the past, Phytoplankton, coral reefs, and the marine life that depend on them are becoming scarce in the present. Our environment is

continuing on a circular path that may soon lead to chaos within a once naturally balanced environment.

Future Outlook and Human Effects

The warming of our oceans and its effect on marine life has a direct impact on us. As coral reefs die, we will lose an entire ecological habitat of fish. According to the World Wildlife Fund, a small increase of two degrees Celsius would destroy almost all existing coral reefs. Additionally, ocean circulation changes due to warming would have disastrous impacts on marine fisheries. This drastic impact is often hard to imagine. It can only be related to a similar historical event. Fifty-five million years ago, ocean acidification led to a mass extinction of ocean creatures. According to our fossil record, it took more than 100,000 years for the oceans to recover. Eliminating the use of greenhouse gases and protecting our oceans will prevent this from reoccurring.

Climate change: melting ice will trigger wave of natural disasters

Kirkjufell volcano erupting above the town of Vestmannaeyjar, Heimaey Island, Westmann Islands, Iceland. Photograph: Emory Kristof/National Geographic/Getty Images Scientists are to outline dramatic evidence that global warming threatens the planet in a new and unexpected way by triggering earthquakes, tsunamis, avalanches and volcanic eruptions. Reports by international groups of researchers to be presented at a London conference next week will show that climate change, caused by rising outputs of carbon dioxide from vehicles, factories and power stations, will not only affect the atmosphere and the sea but will alter the geology of the Earth.

Melting glaciers will set off avalanches, floods and mud flows in the Alps and other mountain ranges; torrential rainfall in the UK is likely to cause widespread erosion; while disappearing Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets threaten to let loose underwater landslides, triggering tsunamis that could even strike the seas around Britain. At the same time the disappearance of ice caps will change the pressures acting on the Earth's crust and set off volcanic eruptions across the globe. Life on Earth faces a warm future and a fiery one. "Not only are the oceans and atmosphere conspiring against us, bringing baking temperatures, more powerful storms and floods, but the crust beneath our feet seems likely to join in too," said Professor Bill McGuire, director of the Benfield Hazard Research Centre, at University College London (UCL). "Maybe the Earth is trying to tell us something," added McGuire, who is one of the organisers of UCL's Climate Forcing of Geological Hazards conference, which will open on 15 September. Some of the key evidence to be presented at the conference will come from studies of past volcanic activity. These indicate that when ice sheets disappear the number of eruptions increases, said Professor David Pyle, of Oxford University's earth sciences department. "The last ice age came to an end between 12,000 to 15,000 years ago and the ice sheets that once covered central Europe shrank dramatically," added Pyle. "The impact on the continent's geology can by measured by the jump in volcanic activity that occurred at this time." In the Eiffel region of western Germany a huge eruption created a vast caldera, or basin-shaped crater, 12,900 years ago, for example. This has since flooded to form the Laacher See, near Koblenz. Scientists are now studying volcanic regions in Chile and Alaska where glaciers and ice sheets are shrinking rapidly as the planet heats up in an effort to anticipate the eruptions that might be set off. Last week scientists from Northern Arizona University reported in the journal Science that temperatures in the Arctic were now higher than at any time in the past 2,000 years. Ice sheets are disappearing at a dramatic rate and these could have other, unexpected impacts on the planet's geology. According to Professor Mark Maslin of UCL, one is likely to be the release of the planet's methane hydrate deposits. These ice-like deposits are found on the seabed and in the permafrost regions of Siberia and the far north. "These permafrost deposits are now melting and releasing their methane," said Maslin. "You can see the methane bubbling out of lakes in Siberia. And that is a concern, for the impact of methane in the atmosphere is considerable. It is 25 times more powerful than carbon dioxide as a greenhouse gas." A build-up of permafrost methane in the atmosphere would produce a further jump in global warming and accelerate the process of climate change. Even more worrying, however, is the

impact of rising sea temperatures on the far greater reserves of methane hydrates that are found on the sea floor. It was not just the warming of the sea that was the problem, added Maslin. As the ice around Greenland and Antarctica melted, sediments would pour off land masses and cliffs would crumble, triggering underwater landslides that would break open more hydrate reserves on the sea-bed. Again there would be a jump in global warming. "These are key issues that we will have to investigate over the next few years," he said. There is also a danger of earthquakes, triggered by disintegrating glaciers, causing tsunamis off Chile, New Zealand and Newfoundland in Canada, Nasa scientist Tony Song will tell the conference. The last on this list could even send a tsunami across the Atlantic, one that might reach British shores. The conference will also hear from other experts of the risk posed by melting ice in mountain regions, which would pose significant dangers to local people and tourists. The Alps, in particular, face a worryingly uncertain future, said Jasper Knight of Exeter University. "Rock walls resting against glaciers will become unstable as the ice disappears and so set off avalanches. In addition, increasing meltwaters will trigger more floods and mud flows." For the Alps this is a serious problem. Tourism is growing there, while the region's population is rising. Managing and protecting these people was now an issue that needed to be addressed as a matter of urgency, Knight said. "Global warming is not just a matter of warmer weather, more floods or stronger hurricanes. It is a wake-up call to Terra Firma," McGuire said.