Pteropods and How We Can Help Them

Gretchen Hofmann an associate professor of biology at the University of California is researching tiny organisms called pteropods. These pteropods play a critical role in marine ecology. Hofmann says that these tiny creatures could be suffering from high levels of carbon dioxide in the oceans. She says that when carbon dioxide dissolves in sea water it increases the acidity by stripping out carbonate ions. Carbonate ions are essential to pteropods to build calcium carbonate shells and an exoskeleton. Hofmann says that if we lose these organisms the impact on the food chain could be catastrophic. It would be a loss to herring cod, salmon, mackerel and many more species. If we lose these organisms it could be disastrous for many marine life.

What can we do? Instead of driving all the time we can start walking. The smoke from your car comes back down as acid rain. Be aware of where your garbage goes. Most of the garbage that was dumped into the ocean in the early 1990’s. is still there. When your cruising around in your boat only turn on your engine when you need it. Every year buy a new or cleaner marine engine for your boats.

Polar Bears

We Are Floating on Thin Ice from Maya Lior on Vimeo.

This video of the polar bear floating on one piece of ice is telling a big statement that polar bears are floating on thin ice. As the ice melts the polar bears have to swim farther, but since they are not long swimmers they drown because the ice is too far away.

www.vimeo.com

Penguins

Penguins

The penguins of Punta Tomba, Argentina have been declining, not because they are suffering but because penguins are "“marine sentinels,” their decline is a message that their marine environment is in trouble, chiefly from over fishing and pollution from offshore oil operations and shipping". Dr. Boersma says. Their breeding pairs have declined 22 percent since 1987. These penguins can swim up to 100 miles a day, but now just to get enough food they have to swim more than 40 miles farther from their nests.
Dr. Boersma says that these birds lay up to 2 eggs, but if there is a food shortage than the parents usually favor the first hatched and often the other chick doesn't survive. Climate change dangers than more because about half nest in burrows that are vulnerable to flooding. Dr. Boersma wrote “we have entered a new era of unprecedented challenges for marine systems.”

Sea Turtles

Sea turtles in Costa Rica are said to be "Casualties of Global Warming". With the rising temperatures sea turtles are in great danger. Unlike other mammals who's genes determine their gender, temperature determines the sea turtles gender. If the temperature is higher than 86 degrees, the turtles are all females. Above 93 degrees they are boiled eggs. This will be a problem when the temperatures start to rise permanently there will be no male turtles to mate with the female turtles. To help the turtles scientists are artificially cooling nests with shade or irrigation. “The climate is changing so much faster than before, and these animals depend on so much for temperature.” Carlos Drews, the regional marine species coordinator for the conservation group W.W.F.
Rosenthal, Elisabeth. http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/14/science/earth/14turtles.html. November 13, 2009.

Walruses

Global warming is impacting arctic marine mammals severely, especially walruses. The arctic ice is retreating and making life harder for walruses. United States scientists found around 121 dead walruses off the coast of Alaska. The walruses that were found dead had been trampled on from other walruses, from being on a small piece of ice which scientists say is very unusual. Scientists say that there have been stampedes before, from hunters, but these stampedes they are seeing now are not the same.