Global Warming News Article – Climate Change Driving Australian Fish South!
Wherever you look these days, more and more evidence is coming to light regarding the plight of our planet due to the effects of ‘Global Warming’.
I intend to highlight this topic as and when I discover new areas that are being affected by global warming.
By Leonard Low, Australia (Flickr) CC-BY-2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Here is an interesting article below about the movements of fish in the Australian waters, if you would like to share your views on the subject, leave your comments at the bottom of this post.
Australian scientists said Friday there was now “striking evidence” of extensive southward migration of tropical fish and declines in other species due to climate change, in a major ocean report card.
Compiled by more than 80 of Australia’s leading marine experts for the government science body CSIRO, the snapshot of global warming’s effects on the island continent’s oceans warned of “significant impacts”.
“Climate change is already happening; widespread physical changes include rapid warming of the southeast and increasing flow of the east Australia current,” the report said.
“There is now striking evidence of extensive southward movements of tropical fish and plankton species in southeast Australia, declines in abundance of temperate species, and the first signs of the effect of ocean acidification on marine species with shells.”
The report described southeast Australia as a “global warming hotspot”, with the contraction south and strengthening of southern hemisphere winds causing the eastern current to become more intense and also warmer.
“A range of species including plankton, fish and invertebrates are now found further south because of the enhanced transport of larvae and juveniles in the stronger (current) and the high rate of regional warming,” it said.
Sea snakes were declining and warmer beaches were changing turtle breeding habits and seabird and marine mammal feeding and mating, it added.
Coral reefs had experienced increasing thermal bleaching in the past 30 years and that was projected to become more frequent and severe, “leading to chronic degradation of most coral reefs by the middle to late parts of the century.”
Poloczanska said Australia had some unique marine ecosystems and they provided “irreplaceable services including coastal defence, oxygen production, nutrient recycling and climate regulation”.
“Every second breath of oxygen we breathe is provided by marine plants.”
I bet you didn’t know that!
….More at Times Live
By Richard Ling (Flickr) CC-BY-SA-2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Staggering, isn’t amazing the things you learn when you are researching an article?
Many, many years ago I went for a vacation to the Great Barrier Reef, I never at that time gave a second thought to global warming and how it was causing such problems on a global scale.
If you enjoyed this ‘global warming news article’ – or at least found it of interest, perhaps you would leave your comments below or award it a like on Facebook; everything helps to get the word out.