By: no author given
Scientists have now noticed that rising temperatures in oceans mean that warmer oceans will be very different places. This could rearrange the global distribution of life in the oceans. It will mess up their food webs at the very root making many, many organisms lose what they feed off of. Warmer waters were more likely to be hotspots of diversity for marine species but even with a census that big, Tittensor (scientist) has only glimpsed at the full ocean life through a key hole. The results of all of the tests and surveys they have done, say the results suggest changes in ocean temperatures could have a big impact on the spread of oceanic species. Tittensor found that places where there is the most human activity, pollution, habitat destruction and over harvesting, are the areas that are richest in life. The warmer waters have already taken a toll on the phytoplankton which are on the bottom of the food chain. If the future of our marine life is to be preserved then we must act soon. Also, the current way of getting energy for us is making this worse everyday. So that is a reason why we need to find a way to change the way we get energy so that the ocean temperatures will drop again.
Opinion: I think this is a real shame! Warmer waters mean many animals could die off! We need to figure out a way to fix this, and fast. Oceans are a big part of everyone's life and we need to save what's in it. If organisms in them start to become extinct then we are also going to start losing food sources. If something happens to the oceans then it is going to effect me and everyone else in the world. The faster we find a way to fix this, the better off we will be. I think we need to find a new way of getting energy so it will be one less thing harming the ocean.
Questions:
1. What is a way we could fix this problem?
2. What else could happen if we don't fix this soon?
3. Do you think that there is a way the organisms could just adapt to warmer waters?
I agree that this is a terrible situation.However even if we find a new source of energy, i think the ocean will still continue to get warmer. I believe another major cause to the ocean getting warmer is from global warming. A new energy source might help solve that problem to though.Whatever we do we have to do it fast because we are running out of coal, oil and natural gas which right now are supporting our entire planet and can't for much longer.
ReplyDeleteTo answer your question "What is a way we could fix this problem?" when I was reading the plasma article for homework tonight, they said that plasma could become an alternate energy source. The only problem is that it takes a huge amount of power to power the technology. However they said that many different companies and scientists are looking for more efficient ways to harness this machine without using as much power.
Wow! This could be a serious problem if something isn't done quickly. We depend on the animals in the ocean for food and if they died/became extinct, we would need to look for different sources of food. So then we would be eating other animals on land and their population would decrease and there would probably be some sort of food shortage around the world, especially in small fishing villages! That would be very, very bad.
ReplyDeleteTo answer question 3, there are probably ways that the animals could adapt to the warmer waters. After all, organisms have adapted though all sorts of weather changes (in and out of the Ice Age). If for some reason the phytoplakton or other animals low on the food chain have a hard time adapting to the warmer water, scientists could probably slowly introduce them to warmer water bit by bit until they are ready to enter the ocean itselt. To stop this problem from getting worse, we need to find a better source of power now and end the heating of the earth's oceans that is causing organisms low on the food chain to die!!!
Good heavens, this is awful! Well, it's much better for beach-goers, because they get warmer water.. muuuuch better. But for the organisms, this can be an awful thing! I can't believe that sp many would be dying off, it just seems so awful that so many organisms that humans love and need could be gone forever. It seems like such an awful consequeance for something so, well, not that big of a deal.
ReplyDeleteTo answer question numero tres, i have to agree with what Erika was saying. There HAS to be a way for the organisms to adapt, how would so many other oceanic organisms have sruvived over the centuries, milleniums even!? Adaptation is just a part of the life of an organism, all organisms have to do it at one point in their life or another. Therefore, there has to be a way for these prganisms to adapt. Maybe they wont get a chance to before they die out, but there is definatly a way somehow, they just may not have had enough time to carry out ther "plan."
Oh my! This is horrible! It's so amazing, yet horrible, to see that one thing can cause problems in so many different parts of the world. I agree with Kyle that having new renewable energy won't stop the ocean from getting warmer but it may slow it down. No matter what, we need to get a move on getting renewable energy because it would help a lot of things in the long run.
ReplyDeletei found this video that describes the effects that the world being just two degrees warmer would have on ocean life!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P-0_gDXqYeQ