The inhabitants of the oceans threatens mass starvation

One reason for the shortage of food may be the stratification of the ocean

A new study by the group of experts on climate change have shown that global warming will lead to mass starvation among the deep sea creatures of the oceans and, as a consequence, to the extinction of many species.

“The depths of the ocean are one of the most inhospitable and barren places on the planet,” says Andrew Sweetman, researcher at the University of Heriot-Watt in Edinburgh and lead author of the study: “a Square meter of ocean at a depth over 3,000 meters contains less carbohydrate than is contained in the cube of sugar. And if in the next century is tiny amounts of food will be reduced two times, the consequences will be catastrophic.”

One reason for the shortage of food may be the stratification of the ocean due to the increase in water temperature, which dramatically reduced the number of plankton, the first link in the food chain at great depths.

Such forecasts, the researchers made after analyzing the data obtained by simulation of the effects of global climate change for the fifth assessment report of the intergovernmental expert group on climate change, along with the analysis of the extensive body of published data about the ocean. They studied the change characteristics such as temperature, acidity, oxygen and food to predict the change in deep-water ecosystems by the year 2100.

“Biodiversity in many of these areas is determined by the scarce amount of food, and for the next 80 years in some parts of the world it could be reduced in two times,” said Andrew Thurber, an ecologist from the University of Oregon: “We will probably see the dominance of smaller organisms. Some species will thrive, some will migrate to other areas, and many will die. Likely to increase in the population of jellyfish and squid, for example, as fish populations and cold-water corals will shrink.”

According to forecasts, the water temperature in the abyssal zones, that is, at a depth of 3,000 metres, will rise one-half degree Celsius in the Northern Atlantic ocean, southern, and Arctic oceans, and in the bathyal zones, the depth of 200-3000 meters, the Pacific, Atlantic, and Arctic oceans, the temperature will increase by almost four degrees Celsius.

“The difference is four degrees in the ocean is much greater for similar changes in temperature on land and causes serious changes in the ecosystem,” said Thurber.

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