Marine ecosystems able to adapt to global warming

Global warming is a problem that requires the participation of scientists, engineers, and politicians. However, when considering this problem, the main focus of specialists is on carbon dioxide emissions. It is one of the factors accelerating the process of climate warming. In fact, there are other issues that require consideration, and they often remain outside the attention of the scientific community. One of these questions is a change in the pH of seawater as a result of an increase in carbon dioxide concentration.

The oceans and the seas are becoming more “sour”, and this is not about taste. This is a huge problem for a large number of living organisms, and therefore for ecosystems. The interaction between the various elements of marine and oceanic ecosystems, which has reached equilibrium over many millions of years, is disrupted.

An example is that due to an increase in the acidity of water, it becomes more difficult for mollusks to form shells, the main component of which is calcium carbonate. In some cases, an increase in the acidity of water even leads to a change in the pattern of behavior of certain species of fish .

The main part of the research is reduced to two different types: laboratory experiments with certain conditions and carefully selected species of living creatures and research on changes in wildlife. Each direction has its advantages and disadvantages.

Recently, the results of research by scientists from the University of Adelaide were published. The head of the research is Sylvan Goldenberg, it was he who came up with the idea to reduce the gap between the conditions for conducting experiments in the laboratory and nature. Scientists decided to create in the laboratory a massive ecosystem, which is formed from a large number of species of living beings. The entire ecosystem is represented by 1,800 modules, which are called the "mesocosme". As a result, we really managed to form a sustainable ecosystem of more than 90 living creatures, from microorganisms to high-order predators.

The pH of the seawater was adjusted to 7.9. The temperature was raised by three degrees compared to normal conditions. Such changes, according to scientists, are waiting for the seas and oceans in 2100. This is if the level of carbon dioxide emissions will grow at a current pace.

As it turned out, most living organisms have adapted to new conditions. Some species of fish had to be difficult - because of all these changes, the fish simply lost their ability to smell as sharply as in colder water with a different pH level. Nevertheless, they were able to live, especially since the algae, shrimps and some other species of marine inhabitants began to develop more actively.

As it turned out, the most negative impact of changing conditions has on the life of ecosystems and a smaller number of living beings. The smaller the "chain", the more negative the influence of external factors. But the more complex the ecosystem, the better it adapts to changing conditions. It turned out that most of the laboratory experiments, which showed a sharply negative effect of warming and changes in the acidity level of water, were carried out with a minimum set of living organisms.

As for research in nature, studying the effects of warming is a difficult task. The factors that scientists consider to be the main ones do not always lead to observable results. Nevertheless, the negative impact of global warming and an increase in carbon dioxide emissions into the atmosphere is still there, this cannot be denied. Some organisms die without adapting to changes.

If the same algae grows more actively under the changed conditions, and is able to supply the biomass of representatives of local ecosystems, then the corals, for example, do not tolerate new conditions and die out. Whole coral reefs begin to change, corals die off en masse and "bleach".

Of course, humanity is trying to stop the onset of global climate change. For example, on April 22, 2016, the participants in the Paris Climate Conference signed the Paris Agreement , which regulates measures to reduce carbon dioxide in the atmosphere since 2020. Great expectations are now placed on this agreement. Its main objective is to maintain the growth of the global average temperature below 2 ° C. However, a single agreement may not be enough. Now we need not only to reduce the level of carbon dioxide emissions into the atmosphere, but also to begin to withdraw this compound. And a person simply does not have the necessary technologies to start performing this work. Now there is no consensus about the possibility of reversing the warming process, or at least stop it. Many scientists believe that this is no longer possible. This means that not only marine organisms, but also people will have to adapt to the new conditions.