Friday, October 9, 2009

Climate change impact on marine life

Immediate action to halt climate change impact is not only necessary to prevent glaciers from melting, and polar bears from going extinct, but also to keep our oceans healthy. If we fail to do something quick about climate change problem marine life in our oceans and seas will be in great jeopardy and many marine species will go extinct.

Many of you already know that climate change is caused by excessive carbon emissions, oceans absorb large quantities of carbon dioxide that makes ocean much more acidic because CO2 dissolves in water creating carbonic acid in process. As our oceans and seas are becoming more and more acidic many marine species such as corals will lose their ability to form calcium carbonate shells and skeletal structures which could lead many of them to the brink of extinction. And since life in every corner of our planet, including oceans, is interconnected this will create irreparable damage to many other marine species that depend upon these creatures, and food chain will be broken in many places.

It is not only ocean acidification we should fear of, the warmer sea temperatures are also the reason for worry. Warmer sea temperatures will also create big problem for many marine species, especially in tropics. Many tropical fish species are extremely sensitive to increased temperatures, and once temperature becomes too warm for them they go away to cooler areas. At first sight this doesn't look like a big deal but if you take into account that many fish species can't swim too far, they are practically bound to go extinct.

The latest study has revealed that by the middle of this century fish populations in the tropics are likely to fall by as much as 40% because of global warming that will do irreparable damage to sea food chain. The worst part is that tropics mostly includes poor third world countries, with many of them depending upon fish for their livelihoods, and losing fish could cause big poverty problem in these countries.

Less fish equals to less catches, and less catches means less money, and of course less food for tropics. Fish play crucial part in eating habits of people that live in many parts of Africa and south-east Asia, and many people in these areas live at the edge of the seas, catching fish to survive. So you can imagine what will decline in catch do to this people.

As you can see the combination of ocean acidification and warmer temperatures is doing serious damage to marine life. Serious damage done to marine life will do serious damage to many people living in the third world countries, and climate change could make the difference between rich and poor even bigger than it is today. The poor will yet again suffer the most.


Climate change impact in form of warmer sea temperatures and ocean acidification will have devastating effect on marine life, especially in tropics.

1 comment:

  1. It is really sad what we are doing to all life on our planet, sadly ocean is not an exception. I'm really worried about climate change, and what is going to happen to us in years to come.

    ReplyDelete