- cross-posted to:
- science@lemmy.world
- cross-posted to:
- science@lemmy.world
Scientists say they have at last solved the mystery of what killed more than 5 billion sea stars off the Pacific coast of North America in a decade-long epidemic.
The culprit? Bacteria that has also infected shellfish, according to a study published Monday in the journal Nature Ecology and Evolution.
Now that scientists know the cause, they have a better shot at intervening to help sea stars.
Prentice said that scientists could potentially now test which of the remaining sea stars are still healthy — and consider whether to relocate them, or breed them in captivity to later transplant them to areas that have lost almost all their sunflower sea stars.
Another aspect related to climate change could be ocean acidification. Excess CO2 in the atmosphere is pushing ocean pH down, and a slightly acidic environment might be more favorable.
Yeah, that’s caused by increased CO2 levels and not by the heating itself, so it is a reasonable hypotheses even given the wildly varying temperatures where this is happening.
Its already known too that CO2/ocean acidification impacts the ability of shellfish to make their shells. Calcium carbonate doesn’t form very well in a more acidic environment, and I could see issues with shell formation/weakened shells leading to a vulnerability to bacteria.
Interestingly, a warmer ocean will be able to hold less CO2. Considering that the ocean is the one of the worlds biggest carbon sinks, acidification might be cancelled out by the positive feedback loop of the oxygen releasing more greenhouse gases into the atmosphere as it warms. Yikes.