Washington: Recent satellite data have shown that the warming of the world’s oceans is reducing ocean life, while at the same time contributing to increased global warming.
According to the study in the November 7 issue of Nature, ocean warming is reducing the microscopic plants, which form the core of the ocean’s food chain.
“We show on a global scale that the growth of these plants, called phytoplankton, is strongly tied to changes in the warming of the ocean. Phytoplankton grow faster in a cool ocean and slower in a warm one. The scary part is that the oceans are warming now probably caused by our emissions of greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide,” said David Siegel, co-author and professor of marine science in the Department of Geography at the University of California, Santa Barbara.
According to him, these microscopic plants are predicted to grow even slower in the warmer oceans of the future, and this in turn will reduce the food available to fish and other organisms, including marine birds and mammals, which are supported by the ocean’s food chain.
“Phytoplankton are responsible for about the same amount of photosynthesis each year as all the plants on land combined,” he said.
“Another disturbing result of reduced phytoplankton is that our atmosphere depends on the consumption of atmospheric carbon dioxide by these plants. Reduced phytoplankton means less carbon dioxide is taken up by the ocean, which could speed global warming, contributing to a vicious cycle of increased warming,” he added.
“Rising levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere play a big part in global warming. This study shows that as the climate warms, phytoplankton growth rates go down and along with them the amount of carbon dioxide these ocean plants consume. That allows carbon dioxide to accumulate more rapidly in the atmosphere, which would produce more warming,” said lead author of the study, Michael Behrenfeld of Oregon State University.
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