The ocean’s are showing lower levels of oxygen and acidity which in turn threatens the balance of undersea ecosystems and the food chain.
According to an article on Piscoweb.org (Partnership for Interdisciplinary Studies of Coastal Oceans) “The ocean is more acidic due to increases in carbon dioxide in the atmosphere; predictions are for a warmer and even more acidic ocean. Numerous studies have shown that more acid has great biological impacts.” Dead zones and ocean acidification are two major threats facing the ocean on the west coast of North America.
Oceanographer Gregory Johnson of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration in Seattle, says that the low oxygen content (also known as hypoxia) has always existed in the deeper parts of the oceans. Recently, however, this hypoxia is moving towards the oceans surface and spreading. “The depletion of oxygen levels in all three oceans (the Pacific, Atlantic and Indian oceans) is striking,” Johnson says.
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Tags: ecosystems, oceans
