Biology (and other Life Sciences)

Climate models predict that the world’s oceans will become increasingly warmer and acidic, sea levels will continue to rise, and storm and ocean circulation patterns will be altered because of anthropogenic inputs of carbon in the atmosphere. These changes have critical implications for marine life, including direct effects on species physiology and phenology and indirect effects on patterns of distribution and key ecological interactions. Also, these changes are likely to alter the effectiveness of current conservation strategies (e.g., MPAs) in unpredictable ways.

1a. Explain how greenhouse gases such as CO2 contribute to climate change. (2 pts)1b. How will global climate change and ocean acidification affect ocean productivity and, ultimately, biodiversity? (2 pts)

2. How will marine ecosystems and species adapt and respond to the individual and interactive effects of ocean acidification, anoxia, and warming and to what extent is mitigation possible? (4 pts)

3. To what degree can no-take or highly protected MPAs provide resilience or a buffer against ecosystem disruption caused by climate change and ocean acidification? (4 pts)

4. What measures can best prevent the extinction and destruction of geographically constrained species and populations in the face of climate change? (4 pts)

5. What skills might you need to work in a job focusing on understanding and addressing the consequences of climate change? (4 pts)

ANSWER

Climate Change

The greenhouse effect.

The greenhouse effect is a condition where the amount of heating entering the earth’s atmosphere is very high compared to the amount of heat leaving the atmosphere of the earth (Froehlich et.al,2018). This is caused by the accumulation of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere that forms a layer that prevents the passage of heat (Froehlich et.al,2018). The greenhouse effect causes veryb high temperatures in the earth that cause evaporation in the ocean causing the oceans to be acidic. Acidity in the oceans causes the destruction and death of marine life (Froehlich et.al,2018).

Adaptations of marine creatures to ocean acidity.

The marine cretures have shells that protect them from the acidity in the ocean because the acidity may wear of their skins (Miller et.al,2018). Some marine organisms also have molecular genes that show a reaction to acidity. Their skins are impermeable to acidic substances.

Marine protected area (MPA) buffers to climate change

They buffer by protecting marine life like marine creatures and marine plants. These marine plants release oxygen into the water which helps to reduce acidity(Miller et.al,2018). The palnts also absorb carbon dioxide which helps to reduce the ph of the water in the ocean, therefore marine life helps to reduce acidity in the oceans and marine protected areas.

Measures to climate change

Planting trees and crops in plenty. Trees and crops cause slight modifications in climate. They cause cool temperatures and also prevent temperatures from going to very high levels (Froehlich et.al,2018). To prevent climate change, vehicles that use fuels should be avoided because combustion in their engine produces carbon monoxide that is a major cause of climate change (Froehlich et.al,2018). Using altenative sources of energy that are clean and avoiding using firewood and coals because firewood leads to deffforestation while coal emits sulfurous compounds which destroy the ozone layer (Froehlich et.al,2018). Practicing agroforestry.

Skills

To understand and address the consequences of climate change you need the following skills; skills of observation, skills interpretation, skills of analysing, and the skills of data representation.

References

Froehlich, H. E., Gentry, R. R., & Halpern, B. S. (2018). Global change in marine aquaculture production potential under climate change. Nature Ecology & Evolution, 2(11), 1745-1750. https://www.nature.com/articles/s41559-018-0669-1

Miller, D. D., Ota, Y., Sumaila, U. R., Cisneros‐Montemayor, A. M., & Cheung, W. W. (2018). Adaptation strategies to climate change in marine systems. Global Change Biology, 24(1), e1-e14. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/gcb.13829