State of the Oceans — Log 62
YOUR WEEKLY BRIEFING FROM PARLEY
Photo by Andre Estevez
WHALES
A new study shows that North Atlantic right whales face increased danger from human activities as their habitat shifts. For six years, researchers tracked the endangered cetaceans in Massachusetts Bay by deploying recording devices and listening for “up-calls”. As waters warm, the remaining whales are spending more time in the Bay – even when there are no seasonal protections in place to reduce entanglements and ship strikes.
Scientists this week also report on a missing link in whale evolution that could help explain how cetaceans transitioned from land to sea. In 2007, researchers in Egypt discovered the fossils of a species that may have been the step between a foot-powered swimmer and a fully aquatic tail-powered swimmer. This finding “gives us a sense of how the transition may have taken place,” as one author put it.
Finally, orca whale research offers the first evidence of the “Grandmother Hypothesis” in animals. The Grandmother Hypothesis is the idea that “females of some species live long after they stop reproducing to provide extra care for their grandchildren.” A team observing 700 killer whales off Washington State and British Colombia reported that grandmother orcas share fish and hunting strategies with their grandchildren and even serve as leaders for the whole pod. Grandchildren were 4.5x more likely to die if they lost their grandmother.
CORALS
For the first time, scientists on Heron Island, Australia observed the effects of ocean acidification on coral reefs for months at a time. The results are surprisingly hopeful. In acidic conditions, coral growth slowed or stopped. However, living corals dissolved far more slowly than dead corals did, which suggests that vibrant coral reefs are more resilient than we thought. One author said, “As we create marine reserves and learn how to increase the amount of living coral by restoring reefs, we’re setting up a positive feedback loop because living coral will grow the reef and slow dissolution.” Another researcher added, “The primary impact of this paper is demonstrating that healthy reefs stay healthy longer.”
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CLIMATE CHANGE
Almost seventy scientists from seventeen countries contributed to a research effort, which found that the oceans are losing oxygen fast. Between 1960 and 2010, oxygen in the ocean declined by 2% overall though in some areas oxygen dropped by as much as 40-50%. Climate change primarily drives this trend, but nutrient run-off from agriculture and other forms of pollution contribute, too. An ocean with less oxygen poses threats to marine animals, and it also jeopardizes the planet’s ability to cycle water, energy, and essential elements that all life needs. “What surprised me was that, as oxygen levels lowered, there would be an effect on those cycles,” one researcher said. “We lower these oxygen levels at our peril.”
INNOVATION
New research finds that Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) technology could sequester six to seven megatons of CO2 from the atmosphere and store it underground by 2050. The United Nation’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has stated that CCS must account for 13% of all emissions reductions needed to mitigate the climate crisis in the next thirty years. Policymakers have long doubted CCS’s ability to meet that goal, but it’s “very doable!” according to this report. “We provide an actionable, detailed pathway for CCS,” a co-author said. “This is a really big hammer that we can deploy right now to put a dent in our emissions profile.”
SPONGES
For centuries, coral reefs have been something of a puzzle to marine scientists. Somehow, the ‘rainforests of the sea’ occur in the most nutrient-deficient waters. Even Darwin wondered how such vibrant ecosystems thrived in what are more like ocean deserts. According to a new study, the long-awaited answer might be sugar-eating sponges. Using novel imaging technology, researchers looked inside one sponge species’ cells, and they identified sugars naturally found in seawater. It’s possible that sponges harvest as much as 90% of the carbon they need from sugars in seawater—allowing them to grow and form the base of the coral reef food chain.
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