Category Archives: Oceans

Toxic algae slime spreading quickly across the earth

2017-8-19. Ocean Slime Spreading Quickly Across the Earth. Craig Welch, National Geographic. Toxic algae blooms, perhaps accelerated by ocean warming and other climate shifts, are spreading, poisoning marine life and people. When sea lions suffered seizures and birds and porpoises … Continue reading

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Oceans in danger: excessive fishing, pollution, bioinvasion, acidification, oil spills, eutrophication

Carl Safina, Sarah Chasis. 9 Oct 2004.  Saving the Oceans. Two major commissions have proposed far-reaching reform of ocean policy. It’s time for Congress to act. Issues in Science & Technology. National Academy of Sciences. Oceans have been suffering from … Continue reading

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Phytoplankton have declined 40%: they provide food and oxygen for all creatures on Earth

This article from NewScientist discusses how phytoplankton are disappearing — and they provide half of the food animals both in the ocean and on land depend on, plus produce a great deal of the oxygen we breathe. Throw in overfishing, … Continue reading

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Dying seagrass is releasing massive amounts of carbon dioxide

23 May 2012. Mowing down seagrass meadows will cut loose carbon. NewScientist. SEagrass has as much carbon as the world’s forests and the carbon dioxide contained in them could be released as they are dying off from water pollution, dredging, … Continue reading

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Acidification of our oceans: unprecedented rate in past 300 million years

Ahmed, Nafeez. 2017. Failing States, Collapsing Systems BioPhysical Triggers of Political Violence. Springer. As climate change is accelerating, so is the acidification of the oceans. The two processes are causally related. Oceans are becoming more acidic because the vast bulk … Continue reading

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Acid Oceans: how sea life is affected

April 30, 2014 Ocean acidity is dissolving shells of tiny snails off U.S. West Coast Biologists have found the first evidence that acidity of continental shelf waters off the U.S. West Coast is dissolving the shells of tiny free-swimming marine … Continue reading

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Mass Extinction in Oceans is happening NOW

ScienceDaily (Aug. 20, 2012) — Life in the world’s oceans faces far greater change and risk of large-scale extinctions than at any previous time in human history, a team of the world’s leading marine scientists has warned.  The researchers compared … Continue reading

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