An international team of marine biologists has analyzed the community of animals that live near natural sources of carbon dioxide and figured out how increasing the concentration of this compound can affect the Maritime community. Their work, the researchers published in the journal Science of the Total Environment.
Researchers from Zukovskogo, Palermo and Plymouth University have shown that in conditions of high concentration of dissolved CO2 in the marine environment vary considerably. Biologists analyzed the flora and fauna near natural sources of this gas near volcanic island Shikinejima in Japan. They found that when the concentration of this gas such complex organisms like corals and multicellular algae, as a rule, disappeared.
“We have shown that it is caused by increase in carbon dioxide changes in habitat and simplification of the food chain, which we observed along the volcanic climatic gradient in the transition zone, will affect many tropical species. Our data also indicate that in the near future predicted levels of ocean acidity will prevent the spread of coral and reef fish closer to the poles due to global warming,” says the study’s lead author, an employee of the University of Palermo Carlo Cattano.
The new work also confirms earlier studies on the effect of ocean acidity on located in this ecosystem. Now scientists have demonstrated that the decrease in pH of sea water may worsen calcification and accelerate the dissolution of many of the calcining tradeobservatory, while increasing the concentration of CO2 may favor decalzinirute the autotrophs, increasing primary production and the rate of carbon fixation.
As a result, the increasing acidity will exist the losers and the victorious species. Those animals that rely on specific resources at different stages of his life, can disappear. This will lead to a change in the composition of fish communities in the near future, with potentially serious implications for the functioning of marine ecosystems. Humanity will lose, as lose a large amount of biomaterial, which was previously used for different purposes — from food to the production of chemical compounds.
