Deep-sea trophic cascade caused by acidification

[Barrett808]

What jellyfish can tell us about climate change
By Dan Berrett

An East Stroudsburg University professor has studied a delicate sea creature off Japan's coast, and shed new light on how climate change is disrupting the ocean's food chain.

"This is the first clear link between an animal we know is threatened by ocean acidification and a variety of deep-sea species," said Jay Hunt, assistant professor of biology at ESU, describing his research.

The work of his team was published late last year in the Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom. Research was led by Dhugal Lindsay, an Australian marine biologist working in Japan with whom Hunt has partnered before. …

Ocean water has been growing more acidic because of higher concentrations in the atmosphere of carbon dioxide produced by humans. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration says acid levels in the Earth's oceans are higher now than any time in the last 800,000 years, and possibly in the last 20 million years.

"It's real, it's current, it's happening," Hunt said. ...

Hunt and his fellow researchers observed a startling cascade effect, noting that the young red paper lantern jellyfish roost in the shells of these snails. As the snails have started to wilt from acidic oceans, it has left young red paper lantern jellyfish vulnerable.

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http://desdemonadespair.blogspot.com/2009/03/deep-sea-trophic-cascade-caused-by.html

[Shireling]

1. Thanks for posting this

There is so much justifiable outrage over the economy, etc., but meanwhile, our planet is sick, possibly terminally ill. If the planet goes, we go.