Ocean Acidification Makes Clownfish Go Deaf (Poor Nemo Can't Hear Predators Anymore...)
Photo: Flickr, CC
Photo: Wikipedia, CC
"Avoiding coral reefs during the day is very typical behaviour of fish in open water," said researcher Steve Simpson from the School of Biological Sciences at the UK's Bristol University. Indeed, coral reefs are home to many species that can feed on small clownfish.
"They do this by monitoring the sounds of animals on the reef, most of which are predators to something just a centimetre in length. But sounds are also important for mate detection, pack hunting, foraging - so if any or all of those capacities are gone, you'd have a very lost fish," he told BBC News.
Photo: Flickr, CC
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Via BBC
Source @ LINK:
http://www.treehugger.com/clean-technology/ocean-acidification-makes-clownfish-go-deaf-poor-nemo-cant-hear-predators-anymore.html
A leader in the study of the ecology and
evolution of marine organisms, Jeremy Jackson is known for his deep
understanding of geological time.
Jeremy Jackson is the Ritter Professor of Oceanography and Director of the Center for Marine Biodiversity and Conservation at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography. Painting pictures of changing marine environments, particularly coral reefs and the Isthmus of Panama, Jackson's research captures the extreme environmental decline of the oceans that has accelerated in the past 200 years.
Jackson's current work focuses on the future of the world’s oceans, given overfishing, habitat destruction and ocean warming, which have fundamentally changed marine ecosystems and led to "the rise of slime." Although Jackson's work describes grim circumstances, even garnering him the nickname Dr. Doom, he believes that successful management and conservation strategies can renew the ocean’s health.
Photo: Flickr, CC
Another Unforeseen Consequence of Global Warming
The planet's oceans absorb a lot of CO2 from the atmosphere, slowly turning them more acidic than they would otherwise be. This can be a big problem for many species that haven't evolved in these conditions, including coral reefs and, scientists have now found, the clownfish (popularized by Pixar's Finding Nemo). Apparently, it's the clownfish's hearing that is most affected by acidification...Photo: Wikipedia, CC
What Did You Say?
Indeed, researchers found that the clownfish appears to be losing its hearing in water only slightly more acidic than what is normal in the ocean.In this experiment, the fish could decide whether to swim towards or away from an underwater loudspeaker replaying the sounds of predators recorded on a reef, with shrimps and fish that would take a small clownfish.But the clownfish in more acidic water showed no preference for moving away from the threatening sound, while those exposed to normal levels of acidity move away from the perceived danger source. This could seriously impact clownfish survival in the long term.
"Avoiding coral reefs during the day is very typical behaviour of fish in open water," said researcher Steve Simpson from the School of Biological Sciences at the UK's Bristol University. Indeed, coral reefs are home to many species that can feed on small clownfish.
"They do this by monitoring the sounds of animals on the reef, most of which are predators to something just a centimetre in length. But sounds are also important for mate detection, pack hunting, foraging - so if any or all of those capacities are gone, you'd have a very lost fish," he told BBC News.
Photo: Flickr, CC
What is Causing the Impaired Hearing is still a question but looking at the bigger picture, the bigger lesson here is that if this happens to clownfish, there are probably all kinds of other hard-to-foresee impacts on other species.
We must get CO2 emissions under control and stop ocean acidification before marine ecosystems are more damaged than they already are...
If you like this article, you can follow me on Twitter (@Michael_GR) and Stumbleupon (THMike). Thanks.
Via BBC
Source @ LINK:
http://www.treehugger.com/clean-technology/ocean-acidification-makes-clownfish-go-deaf-poor-nemo-cant-hear-predators-anymore.html
This TED Talk, by Jeremy Jackson, lends a more ominous tone to the discussion beyond Clown fish going deaf...
“It’s not about the fish; it’s not about the pollution; it’s not about the climate change. It’s about us and our greed and our need for growth and our inability to imagine a world that is different from the selfish world we live in today.”
In this bracing talk, coral
reef ecologist Jeremy Jackson lays out the shocking state of the ocean
today: overfished, overheated, polluted, with indicators that things
will get much worse. Astonishing photos and stats make the case.
Jeremy Jackson is the Ritter Professor of Oceanography and Director of the Center for Marine Biodiversity and Conservation at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography. Painting pictures of changing marine environments, particularly coral reefs and the Isthmus of Panama, Jackson's research captures the extreme environmental decline of the oceans that has accelerated in the past 200 years.
Jackson's current work focuses on the future of the world’s oceans, given overfishing, habitat destruction and ocean warming, which have fundamentally changed marine ecosystems and led to "the rise of slime." Although Jackson's work describes grim circumstances, even garnering him the nickname Dr. Doom, he believes that successful management and conservation strategies can renew the ocean’s health.
Jeremy Jackson on the Web
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LINK: http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/en/jeremy_jackson.html
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