Warmer oceans causing commercial fish shortage: Australian study

          Source: Xinhua| 2018-01-10 09:51:59|Editor: Shi Yinglun
          Video PlayerClose

          CANBERRA, Jan. 10 (Xinhua) -- Climate change is driving a collapse of the marine food chain, an Australian study published by the University of Adelaide on Wednesday has found.

          The study found that rising ocean temperatures was reducing the flow of energy from algae at the bottom of the chain to herbivores or predators, harming commercial fish stocks.

          "Healthy food webs are important for maintenance of species diversity and provide a source of income and food for millions of people worldwide," Hadayet Ullah, lead author of the study, said in a media release on Wednesday.

          "Therefore, it is important to understand how climate change is altering marine food webs in the near future."

          Researchers constructed 12 large 1,600 litre fish tanks to mimic conditions in a warming ocean caused by greenhouse gas emissions and introduced a range of species to the tanks including algae, fish, snails, sponges and shrimp.

          The small ecosystem was maintained under future climate conditions for six months, during which time the growth, survival and productivity of every species was tracked.

          "Whilst climate change increased the productivity of plants, this was mainly due to an expansion of cyanobacteria (small blue-green algae)," Ullah said.

          "This increased primary productivity does not support food webs, however, because these cyanobacteria are largely unpalatable and they are not consumed by herbivores."

          Ullah was supervised by Ivan Nagelkerken, a professor of ecology and environment science, who described understanding how ecosystems will cope with a warmer climate as a major challenge in ecological research.

          "If we are to adequately forecast the impacts of climate change on ocean food webs and fisheries productivity, we need more complex and realistic approaches, that provide more reliable data for sophisticated food web models," Nagelkerken said.

          TOP STORIES
          EDITOR’S CHOICE
          MOST VIEWED
          EXPLORE XINHUANET
          010020070750000000000000011100001368844691
          无码人妻一区二区三区四区av_亚洲精品911在线永久观看_精品一区二区国产在线观看_日韩不卡一区二区视频在线

                  欧美亚洲日韩一区字幕 | 午夜性色福利剧场 | 伊大人香蕉久久网欧美 | 亚洲国产日韩欧美综合 | 中文字幕在线观看第一页 | 免费激情小视频在线观看 |