Climate and marine scientists continue to stress that we might lose a great deal of species unless we cut down drastically on greenhouse gas emission. The latest report points out the danger that the marine animals find themselves in due to human intervention.
The paper, published in the journal Science, informs that as our oceans are warming up, the water is loosing much need oxygen and that the carbon dioxide (CO2) is making the environment much more acidic and less friendly for a good number of aquatic creatures.
In fact, the situation is so severe that the planet’s waters are bound to see a change in their regardless of whether of not we prevent the two (2) degrees Celsius rise in temperature that experts warn will have devastating effects on the earth as we know it.
Professor Ove Hoegh-Guldberg, director of the University of Queensland’s Global Change Institute gave a statement saying that “There is high confidence that many marine organisms, their communities and ecosystems are undergoing fundamental change as the world’s oceans warm, acidify and lose oxygen”.
He went on to add that scientists generally agree that many marine species are already experiencing fundamental changes in their biology, communities and ecosystems due to the rising temperature.
Twenty-two (22) of the world’s leading marine scientists worked on the report, and they urge world leaders to pay more attention to what climate change is doing to the oceans. They inform that the burning of fossil fuels is changing our waters on a chemical level and causing changes to happen quicker than any natural event that came after the nefarious Great Dying, which took place 250 million years ago.
They say that statistically speaking, so far the ocean has absorbed almost 30 percent (30%) of the carbon dioxide produced by humans since 1750, and no less than 90 percent (90%) of the additional heat the industrial society has been responsible for since 1750. Heat absorption is a problem in and of its own as it makes it harder for the ocean water to retain oxygen.
What’s impressive is that many marine organisms are known to be capable of lower oxygen levels, higher temperatures or a decrease in pH. The problem is that they are not equipped to survive all of these changes happening at the same time.
Carol Turley, co-author and expert from the Plymouth Marine Laboratory, gave a statement of her own explaining that the ocean is on the frontline, absorbing most of the damage done by climate change. The changes do not only affect marine creatures, but also humans as oceans provide people with food, minerals, drugs, energy, oxygen, and also serves to regulate the weather and the climate.
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