Unabated warming and ocean acidification will devastate numbers of zooplankton and smaller fish with a knock-on effect for larger carnivorous fish, according to the meta-analysis, which combines data from more than 600 experiments measuring the effects of climate change on ecosystems.
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The key issue is that a triumvirate of doom – global warming, overfishing and chemical pollution – are coming together to potentially break the sea.
In the meantime, warming of the oceans is inflicting water to thermally increase, fuelling sea degree rises brought on by melting land ice.
Nagelkerken said this would cause a collapse of species, beginning with those at the top of the food chain down to the creatures at the bottom. The ocean has warmed by about 1°C since pre-industrial times, and the water increased to be 30% more acidic.
A few economically important species will be able to move to cooler waters, but shellfish and other important catches with a limited range could suffer.
He said this “simplification” of ocean ecosystems would have dire consequences for our way of life, particularly regions relying primarily on fishing.
The paper, printed within the Proceedings of the Nationwide Academy of Sciences, discovered there was “restricted scope” for animals to take care of warming waters and acidification, with only a few species escaping the destructive influence of accelerating carbon dioxide dissolution within the oceans.
The two scientists restricted their investigations simply to studies or experiments up to early 2014, based on the higher temperatures or carbon dioxide levels predicted for the end of this century. A change in the habitats could have a large impact on the breeding habits and add to the loss of diversity.
Summary: Where quantitative assessments exist, they typically focus on single stressors, single ecosystems or single species.
Comment | The world’s oceans are changing so quickly that many species will be unable to adapt, writes the University of Adelaide’s Ivan Nagelkerken.
The world’s oceans may soon be transformed from biodiverse environments to simple ecosystems that can no longer support basic human needs, says a powerful new climate change study.
Voice of America reports that Nagelkerken and fellow marine ecologist Professor Sean Connell found results that were worse than they expected to see. “Until now, there has been nearly total reliance on qualitative reviews and perspectives of potential global change”.
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Another alarming finding was that acidification would lead to a decline in dimethylsulfide gas (DMS) production by ocean plankton which helps cloud formation and therefore in controlling the Earth’s heat exchange.
