First the sea stars wasted to nothing. Then the purple urchins took over, eating and eating until the bull kelp forests were gone. The red abalone starved. Their fishery closed. Red sea urchins starved. Their fishery collapsed. And the ocean kept warming...
When making choices, people tend to go with what they know, or try something new. We make these trade-offs every day. Does one strategy have an advantage over another? Scientists decided to research this question by looking at fishing boat captains, who face this choice again and again when deciding where to fish.
Jackie Sones, Bodega Marine Reserve research coordinator, overlooks a bed of dead mussels that were fried during the June heat wave, Tuesday, July 2, 2019. The high temperatures and the mussels black shells leads to more absorption of sunlight.
Between increasing heat and shell-dissolving ocean acidification, shellfish die offs may become more common and predictive mechanisms even more critical.
Marine biologist Eric Sanford hikes down to Horseshoe Cove to study tide pools at the UC Davis Bodega Marine Laboratory in Bodega Bay, Calif. on Wednesday, April 17, 2019. Sanford's research is examining the impacts that climate change is having within intertidal zones.
The ocean is a sponge for all the greenhouse gas emissions we produce, and entire aquatic ecosystems are beginning to collapse. Off the coast of California, the disappearing abalone population is raising flags about ocean health and the lasting impact of rising sea temperatures, acidification and pollution. Various teams of scientists, volunteers and businesspeople are collaborating to protect underwater species threatened by the invasion of sea urchins.
"Five years ago, the Gulf of Alaska warmed to record temperatures, likely due to a sudden acceleration in the melting of Arctic sea ice. Usually a cold southern current flows along California. That year, the warm “blob” spread down the coast and, instead of blocking tropical species from moving north, it served as a balmy welcome to a variety of animals far from home."