Single-cell organisms called microbes are rapidly devouring the ancient carbon being released from thawing permafrost soil and ultimately releasing it back into the atmosphere as carbon dioxide, according to new research, reports Science Daily. Increased carbon dioxide levels, of course, cause the Earth to warm and accelerate thawing. Read the full story here.
The monetary value of the world’s oceans has been estimated at US$24tn in a new report that warns that overfishing, pollution and climate change are putting an unprecedented strain upon marine ecosystems, writes The Guardian newspaper. Read the story here.
Sea life near volcanic seeps may offer clues as to how animals will adapt to global warming and ocean acidification, writes the New Yorker. Read the full story here.
In a world-first study, scientists have transplanted kelp off the coast of Tasmania to better understand the impact of climate change, writes ABC Online. The kelp, which grows from northern New South Wales around to Western Australia, provides an ecosystem for hundreds of marine species. Now it is thinning and becoming patchy because of warming waters. Read the full story here at ABC Online.
Popular North Sea fish such as haddock, plaice and lemon sole could become less common on our menus because they will be constrained to preferred habitat as seas warm, according to a study; and reported in Science Daily. Fish distributions are limited by water temperature and some species can only thrive in certain habitats and depths. In the last 40 years the North Sea has warmed four times faster …
Two new studies have just hit about the “warm blob” in the northeast Pacific ocean — a 2 degree Celcius or more temperature anomaly that began in the winter of 2013-2014 in the Gulf of Alaska and later expanded, write the Washington Post. Read the full story here.
Using a multigenerational experiment research has shown for the first time that when reef fish parents develop from early life at elevated temperatures they can adjust their offspring's sex through non-genetic and non-behavioral means, writes Science Daily. Read more here.
Stresses from climate change such as rising temperatures and increasing ocean acidity can edge an organism closer and closer to the brink of death without visible signs, writes Science Daily. Read about the new research here.
"IT IS FRUSTRATING," says climate scientist Michael Mann from his office at Penn State University in the United States. "There certainly has not been a hiatus in global warming — global warming hasn't stopped, even though you still hear those contrarian talking points," he says. Read the full story at ABC Online here.
A new study reports that marine ecosystems can take thousands, rather than hundreds, of years to recover from climate-related upheavals. The study's authors analyzed thousands of invertebrate fossils to show that ecosystem recovery from climate change and seawater deoxygenation might take place on a millennial scale, writes Science Daily. Read the full story here.