Ocean life on the brink of mass extinctions

[Morg]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20110621/sc_nm/us_oceans

Ocean life on the brink of mass extinctions

OSLO (Reuters) – Life in the oceans is at imminent risk of the worst spate of extinctions in millions of years due to threats such as climate change and over-fishing, a study showed on Tuesday.

Time was running short to counter hazards such as a collapse of coral reefs or a spread of low-oxygen "dead zones," according to the study led by the International Programme on the State of the Ocean (IPSO).

"We now face losing marine species and entire marine ecosystems, such as coral reefs, within a single generation," according to the study by 27 experts to be presented to the United Nations.

"Unless action is taken now, the consequences of our activities are at a high risk of causing, through the combined effects of climate change, over-exploitation, pollution and habitat loss, the next globally significant extinction event in the ocean," it said.

Scientists list five mass extinctions over 600 million years -- most recently when the dinosaurs vanished 65 million years ago, apparently after an asteroid struck. Among others, the Permian period abruptly ended 250 million years ago.

"The findings are shocking," Alex Rogers, scientific director of IPSO, wrote of the conclusions from a 2011 workshop of ocean experts staged by IPSO and the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) at Oxford University.

Fish are the main source of protein for a fifth of the world's population and the seas cycle oxygen and help absorb carbon dioxide, the main greenhouse gas from human activities.

OXYGEN

Jelle Bijma, of the Alfred Wegener Institute, said the seas faced a "deadly trio" of threats of higher temperatures, acidification and lack of oxygen, known as anoxia, that had featured in several past mass extinctions.

A build-up of carbon dioxide, blamed by the U.N. panel of climate scientists on human use of fossil fuels, is heating the planet. Absorbed into the oceans, it causes acidification, while run-off of fertilizers and pollution stokes anoxia.

"From a geological point of view, mass extinctions happen overnight, but on human timescales we may not realize that we are in the middle of such an event," Bijma wrote.

The study said that over-fishing is the easiest for governments to reverse -- countering global warming means a shift from fossil fuels, for instance, toward cleaner energies such as wind and solar power.

"Unlike climate change, it can be directly, immediately and effectively tackled by policy change," said William Cheung of the University of East Anglia.

"Over-fishing is now estimated to account for over 60 percent of the known local and global extinction of marine fishes," he wrote.

Among examples of over-fishing are the Chinese bahaba that can grow 2 meters long. Prices per kilo (2.2 lbs) for its swim bladder -- meant to have medicinal properties -- have risen from a few dollars in the 1930s to $20,000-$70,000.

 

[Spider-Who?]

I admittedly am not nearly as knowledgeable as I would like to be on this topic, but I really don’t understand why the global community doesn’t push for more solar, wind and wave-generated power. These things are infinite and clean. And would help immensely. There’s been so much talk over the years, and yet not much has been done (comparatively speaking).

 

[Ghostvirus]

It couldn't have anything to do with that huge oil slick that was created in the Gulf last year?

 

[Bubonic]

The oil slick surely didn't help, nor are the countless other gallons of oil that end up in the sea unreported, in the end it is always a combination of forces.

Humans being the driving force, we'll see how smart we are when the ocean dies.

 

[Paroxysm]

Humans won't care because we'll still have HBO and the internet!

 

[Morg]

It couldn't have anything to do with that huge oil slick that was created in the Gulf last year?

did kill a ton of sea life but the ocean also been use as a garbage dump and full crap floating around, not to mention China and Japan and other over fishing with those huge fishing boats

 

[Paroxysm]

Yeah blame the Asians.....

 

[Anubis]

Well they do love their fish...

 

[Bubonic]

It was a collective effort, although I can't help but also assume that aggressively developing countries wouldn't of done more than their fair share in the last 100 years.

 

[SuperFerret]

Boo friggin' hoo. The ocean has undergone more mass extinctions than you'd think and life is still around.

 

[Indrid Cold]

Have to agree with Super on this one. The extinction timetable may be in effect but, it won't happen over night. It will be generations till we truly feel the impact IMO.

 

[Bubonic]

Boo friggin' hoo. The ocean has undergone more mass extinctions than you'd think and life is still around.

You might be overstating your knowledge on the subject. The article isn't ignorant of mass extinction and mentions that the last one on this scaled happened 65 million years ago when dinosaurs went **** up.

I think this has graver implications then you accorded it.

 

[Indrid Cold]

I think Ferret was being sarcastic....I think....

 

[SuperFerret]

You might be overstating your knowledge on the subject. The article isn't ignorant of mass extinction and mentions that the last one on this scaled happened 65 million years ago when dinosaurs went **** up.

I think this has graver implications then you accorded it.

Graver implications for the 7 billion Homo sapiens perhaps, but when talking about the environment, you need to think about (guess) the ENVIRONMENT.

And the environment maintains its own homeostasis quite well.

 

[chaseter]

Mass extinction within a million years? Uh I don't think homo sapiens will be alive on Earth in a million years.

 

[Indrid Cold]

I don't think anyone will be on this planet in a million years, we should already be living on another planet.

 

[Bubonic]

Graver implications for the 7 billion Homo sapiens perhaps, but when talking about the environment, you need to think about (guess) the ENVIRONMENT.

And the environment maintains its own homeostasis quite well.

Oh, I actually didn't grasp that you just meant that this wasn't that big of a deal for the world in general.

Of course not, this old biddy got a lot of miles left in her for sure!

I guess as a man who works with animals you've got a disdain for the human condition anyways, in any case I know I do, I was just replying to the thread in a species-centric way since I thought this was the interest in this whole thing.

I never assumed for a second that anyone would give a **** about the fish, since a lot of people go so far as thinking sea creatures don't even have feelings to begin with!

 

[chaseter]

I don't think anyone will be on this planet in a million years, we should already be living on another planet.

We first need to implement a 2 child maximum law...which will happen sooner or later.

 

[Bubonic]

Hahaha, good luck with the 2 child maximum law, especially if you honestly mean all around the world, people seem content with polluting the world with their seed. Anything more than 3 in this day in age is some selfish ****, feed the extras to the fishes.

 

[SuperFerret]

Oh, I actually didn't grasp that you just meant that this wasn't that big of a deal for the world in general.

Of course not, this old biddy got a lot of miles left in her for sure!

I guess as a man who works with animals you've got a disdain for the human condition anyways, in any case I know I do, I was just replying to the thread in a species-centric way since I thought this was the interest in this whole thing.

I never assumed for a second that anyone would give a **** about the fish, since a lot of people go so far as thinking sea creatures don't even have feelings to begin with!

I don't have disdain for humanity. I hear that far too much, and it's irritating. Humans are just another species among thousands on this planet today and will have either adapt or die to the changing nature of the environment.

This isn't something on the personal scale, where I can be sympathetic and all. This is at the planetary scale, and because of that I need to step back and look at the big picture, and when regarding the big picture, extinction events (even major extinction events) are inevitable.

 

[Paroxysm]

Humans just speed up the process.

 

[Exploding Boy]

I admittedly am not nearly as knowledgeable as I would like to be on this topic, but I really don’t understand why the global community doesn’t push for more solar, wind and wave-generated power. These things are infinite and clean. And would help immensely. There’s been so much talk over the years, and yet not much has been done (comparatively speaking).

Tell that to the oil companies. When wondering about why things are the way they are in the world you must always ask: Who is making money (off of environmental problems, human rights abuses, poverty, illness, etc)? And there will be your answer for everything.

 

[Scourge2099]

If humanity dies off because everything in the ocean dies off , then we deserve to. We would just be proving ourselves unworthy of living on this mudball.

 

[SuperFerret]

Humans just speed up the process.

That's an assumption. We're not the first species to have a great effect on our environment and we won't be the last.

 

[Bubonic]

Our technology certainly doesn't seem to help, and I don't think there ever has been a species as purposely destructive as ours.

We are a very young species, might be smart but that damned brain will ultimately be our downfall if it doesn't save us first.