Ocean changes
We take so much for granted. When we look at the seas and the oceans we limitless expanses and forget that even something as seemingly endless are not immune to our effects. Even they have begun to change because of our numbers and industry. The latest studies seem to to be telling us that climate change, a warming of the atmosphere is also going to interfere with the oceans’ ability hold oxygen.
The more scientists study the oceans, the more there is for them to find. And one of the more disturbing finds is that parts of the oceans are becoming anoxic zones, that is, areas devoid of oxygen. Not good news at all if you live in the ocean and breathe oxygen. That includes, fish, corals, sponges, lobsters, squids; just about anything that crawls or swims in the ocean waters. So what happens to oxygen breathing creatures in these anoxic zones? Pretty simple. Whatever relies on oxygen and happens to live there dies. And some of the regions are huge. There is a zone just off the west coast of Africa, almost as big as Belgium that has been studied for years as it gets bigger and more consistent.
In the anoxic zones, anaerobes, creatures that do not require or even like oxygen, thrive. The famous “red tides” caused by red algae, are an example of these types of creatures and what happens when the move into a region. Red algae, a phytoplanktonic organism, require very little oxygen and also release toxic chemicals that kill pretty much any organisms that come in contact with them, fish, birds, mammals and even people. The red algae then consume their kill, which in some cases can number millions of individuals, rivaling humans in their ability to destroy vast regions of the ecosystem.
Today, more and more of these dead zones are cropping up in the oceans. Most are along coastal areas where effluent and agricultural runoff deplete the oxygen and devastate coastal shelf life, opening a new niche for anaerobes and other anoxic creatures. The eastern coast of North America has in recent years been the scene of shellfish poisoning, because the shellfish are filter feeders that ingest the phytoplankton toxins and then pass the toxins on to us when we consumed the shellfish. That led to the deaths of many people and even many of those who survived were left with permanent disabilities.
As long as we continue to pump effluent into the oceans, as long as we treat them like open sewers we will have a harmful effect on not only the creatures in the ocean, but ultimately ourselves. When we close an environmental niche to one group of species, life somehow finds a way to sooner or later populate that empty spot with another group, which very often may not be the friendliest or compatible to us or the creatures we rely on.