Lastly, reducing our carbon footprints can help with reducing the effects of climate change on marine ecosystems. To help with invasive species, don’t release any aquarium fish to the ocean or other bodies of water. According to National Geographic, tens of thousands of marine animals are killed by the plastics that end up as ocean debris. To protect our marine ecosystems, some simple practices include using fewer plastic products. They also protect against natural hazards like coastal erosion and inundation, along with providing building materials from coral rock and sand. Healthy marine ecosystems provide raw materials for medicines, feed for livestock, and food security. Marine ecosystems are important and beneficial to society. They damage coastal areas, disrupt the ecological balance, and can impact human health through the introduction of pathogens. Agricultural pesticides also often end up in coastal waters, which depletes oxygen and kills marine plants and shellfish. Another threat is pollution, with oil spills and discharge sewage from factories and industrial plants. (4)Įxtreme weather conditions resulting in rising temperatures and sea levels aren’t the only threats marine ecosystems face. But as extreme weather conditions become more frequent, the worries lie with the impact more heat waves like this could have on the populations in the future. Harley states that the sea creature populations should rebound in a year or two. (1, 2, 3)Īlthough the aforementioned effects will be temporary, they will be significant. Along with providing nutrients to plants and depositing food for fish and other invertebrates, mussels are a food source for muskrats, turtles, raccoons, and other animals. They do this by filtering the water during their feeding process, removing phytoplankton, bacteria, and fungi. Mussels modify the aquatic habitat and make it more suitable for themselves and other organisms. Losing this many mussels can have a detrimental effect on the ecosystem. (1, 2)Ĭhristopher Harley, a marine biologist at the University of British Columbia, estimates the number of losses for mussels to be in the hundreds of millions. Those deaths include mussels, rockweed, barnacles, hermit crabs, various worms, and tiny sea cucumbers. As temperatures climbed above 100 degrees Fahrenheit for four days in June, breaking temperature records, the sea animals began to wash ashore in the following weeks. The negative effects of climate change were seen once again two weeks ago along the Pacific Northwest when a record-breaking heat wave killed more than one billion sea creatures.
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