How will the forthcoming global warming affect coral reefs? A new analysis of the ancient evidence from the last major global warming event points to the availability of food and oxygen as important environmental factors influencing the vitality of cold coral reefs in the North Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea. Rodrigo da Costa Portilho-Ramos of the University of Bremen, Germany, and colleagues presented their findings in the open access journal PLOS Biology.
Declining oxygen levels
Like tropical corals in shallow water, cold water corals act as important “engineers” of deep ocean-going vessels and dunes that are home to rich, unique ecosystems. As climate change continues, researchers predict that corals found in cold water may suffer damage from factors such as rising sea temperatures, declining food availability, declining oxygen levels, and acidity at sea. However, no extinction of cold water coral reefs has been documented in real time, so the exact details that may determine their fate are not yet clear.
Species of Lopheliapertusa 20,000 years ago
To shed new light, Portilho-Ramos and his colleagues turned to ancient evidence of past climate change as photographed on the seabed. They analyzed fossils collected from or near the six coral ecosystems of the North Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea, using common methods of reconstructing marine conditions and the abundance of common species of Lopheliapertusa 20,000 years ago. This season marks the last major event of global warming.The analysis reveals that the abundance of L. The ancient pertusa was largely influenced by changes in food availability, brought directly from the shallow depth or seawater near the sea. Low oxygen saturation has also been shown to be an important factor in L. pertusa. At that time, changes in sea surface temperature and salinity of the sea were not significantly associated with the increase or disappearance of L. pertusa over time.
Records of sea urchins
These findings suggest that climate change driven by ocean processes affecting food and oxygen could play a significant role in the future health of coral reefs. In some cases, the data suggests, high food intake may compensate for lower levels of oxygen.The authors sought future research to further consider the role of food supply and processing of sea acidification, which were not found in this study.
Portilho-Ramos adds, “Records of sea urchins from the North Atlantic and the Mediterranean Sea show that the events of the rise and death of cold coral reefs caused by climate change over the past 20,000 years were largely due to food insecurity. hydrodynamics instead of a change in groundwater temperature. Therefore, climate-driven changes in marine food systems may also be a determining factor in the survival and survival of coral reefs in the coming decades. “
Source Journal Reference:Rodrigo da Costa Portilho-Ramos, Jürgen Titschack, Claudia Wienberg, Michael Georg Siccha Rojas, Yusuke Yokoyama, DierkHebbeln. Major environmental drivers determining life and death of cold-water corals through time. PLOS Biology, 2022; 20 (5): e3001628 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pbio.3001628
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