Dataset Information

Climate Change and the Sea: A Major Disruption in Steady State and the Master Variables.

ABSTRACT: Since the beginning of the industrial revolution, humans have burned enormous quantities of coal, oil, and natural gas, rivaling nature's elemental cycles of C, N, and S. The result has been a disruption in a steady state of CO₂ and other greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, a warming of the planet, and changes in master variables (temperature, pH, and pε) of the sea affecting critical physical, chemical, and biological reactions. Humans have also produced copious quantities of N and P fertilizers producing widespread coastal hypoxia and low dissolved oxygen conditions, which now threaten even the open ocean. Consequently, our massive alteration of state variables diminishes coral reefs, fisheries, and marine ecosystems, which are the foundation of life on Earth. We point to a myriad of actions and alternatives which will help to stem the tide of climate change and its effects on the sea while, at the same time, creating a more sustainable future for humans and ecosystems alike.

SUBMITTER: Simmer RA

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10360203 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Climate Change and the Sea: A Major Disruption in Steady State and the Master Variables.

Simmer Reid A RA Jansen Emily J EJ Patterson Kyle J KJ Schnoor Jerald L JL

ACS environmental Au 20230419 4

Since the beginning of the industrial revolution, humans have burned enormous quantities of coal, oil, and natural gas, rivaling nature's elemental cycles of C, N, and S. The result has been a disruption in a steady state of CO<sub>2</sub> and other greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, a warming of the planet, and changes in master variables (temperature, pH, and pε) of the sea affecting critical physical, chemical, and biological reactions. Humans have also produced copious quantities of N and P ...[more]

PMID: 37483305

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Project description:The massive die-off of the long-spined sea urchin, Diadema antillarum, a significant reef grazer, in the mid 1980s was followed by phase shifts from coral dominated to macroalgae dominated reefs in the Caribbean. While Diadema populations have recovered in some reefs with concomitant increases in coral cover, the additional threat of increasing temperatures due to global climate change has not been investigated in adult sea urchins. In this study, I measured acute thermal tolerance of D. antillarum and that of a sympatric sea urchin not associated with coral cover, Echinometra lucunter, over winter, spring, and summer, thus exposing them to substantial natural thermal variation. Animals were taken from the wild and placed in laboratory tanks in room temperature water (∼22 °C) that was then heated at 0.16-0.3 °C min(-1) and the righting behavior of individual sea urchins was recorded. I measured both the temperature at which the animal could no longer right itself (T LoR) and the righting time at temperatures below the T LoR. In all seasons, D. antillarum exhibited a higher mean T LoR than E. lucunter. The mean T LoR of each species increased with increasing environmental temperature revealing that both species acclimatize to seasonal changes in temperatures. The righting times of D. antillarum were much shorter than those of E. lucunter. The longer relative spine length of Diadema compared to that of Echinometra may contribute to their shorter righting times, but does not explain their higher T LoR. The thermal safety margin (the difference between the mean collection temperature and the mean T LoR) was between 3.07-3.66 °C for Echinometra and 3.79-5.67 °C for Diadema. While these thermal safety margins exceed present day temperatures, they are modest compared to those of temperate marine invertebrates. If sea temperatures increase more rapidly than can be accommodated by the sea urchins (either by genetic adaptation, phenotypic plasticity, or both), this will have important consequences for the structure of coral reefs.

Dataset Information

Climate Change and the Sea: A Major Disruption in Steady State and the Master Variables.

Publications

Climate Change and the Sea: A Major Disruption in Steady State and the Master Variables.

Similar Datasets

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