Interesting blogs I read today
A very interesting read today over at blogfish about field experiences in Antarctica. I remember when I was down on the ice. Oh the memories. Meanwhile marine conservation news has some interesting articles about invading jellyfish and dead zones in the gulf of mexico. Definitely worth a read!
Acid Ocean
Fossil fuels and carbon dioxide have long been absorbed by our worlds oceans. We once thought this was acceptable because the oceans were invincible. Too big to be moved by our petty games. However, we recently learned this was not the case. We found that the pH in our oceans is decreasing. In other words it is becoming more acidic. The pH of our ocean has dropped by 25% (-0.1 pH) from over a century ago. By 2100 the projection is that the ocean pH would have reduced from 8.1 to 7.7. This ocean would be three times more acidic than it is now.
An article in Science Daily shows how researchers working on the Australian sea urchin, Heliocidaris erythrogramma, have examined reproductive success under increasing acidity. Following the 2100 projections they reduced the acidity, where sea urchins were held, from 8.1 to 7.7 pH. They then measured the number of gametes (sperm and eggs) released. Sea urchins are external fertilisers and so release their gametes into the water column. They found that the number of gametes released dropped 25%. This suggests that populations of this species would decline as acidification increases. Unless of course more of these gametes grow through to adult stage? However, this is a warning sign not just for the sea urchin but also for other commercially and ecologically important species as well such as fish, crustaceans and corals.
Fight for fish research
An article in the almighty Nature journal has shown a brewing fight between researchers at the Marine Biological Laboratory in Woodshole, Massachusetts and the non-profit group, Food and Water Watch (FWW).
The researchers have placed an aqua dome with 5000 hatchery raised Black Sea Bass, Centropristis striata, at the seafloor of Buzzards Bay and these fish will be released later this month. The fish have been trained to respond to a sound cue so when given they swim back to the aquadome and feed on artificial food. Thus fish are able to forage in natural conditions but are further supplemented through this method.
This technique, if successful, could help boost wild populations as well as have commercial viability. However, the FWW has stated that the investigation carried out by the US army corps of engineers, which gave the permit, was not thorough enough. There is a risk that fish food and waste could pollute the areas around the cage as well as changing the behaviour of wild fish populations. Researchers are proceeding despite a pending US court order
