Vanishing dolphins 'a wake-up call' on wildlife (LBN, as just revealed)

[Lori Price CLG]

Vanishing dolphins 'a wake-up call' on wildlife

White-beaked dolphins, once the most common species of cetacean seen in Scottish waters, have almost disappeared from the west coast, it was revealed yesterday.

Marine scientists investigating the vanishing populations last night blamed global warming and said that the disappearance should act as a wake-up call to politicians about the impact of climate change on the country’s vital wildlife, both at sea and on land.

Pods of white-beaked dolphins, with their distinctive short, rounded beaks and a white elongated flash along their flanks, were a familiar sight in the waters of the west coast throughout the 1980s and 1990s.

<snip>

Lori Price

[leftchick]

1. No sightings since 2001...

This is so scary and sad....




~snip~

The new study, led by Aberdeen University, the Scottish Agricultural College in Inverness and the National Museums of Scotland in Edinburgh, reveals there have been no scientifically recorded sightings of a white-beaked dolphin in the area since 2001.

Temperatures in west coast waters have increased by 1.5C over the past 20 years.

It is the first time that climate change has been found to be directly linked to changes in the life of a whale or dolphin species.

[Karmakaze]

2. So long, and thanks for all the fish - N/T

[HeeBGBz]

3. You took the tune right out of my mouth

Sad, though.

[mcscajun]

4. My thoughts, exactly.

:(

[bloom]

5. It would be nice to know

if the change in ocean currents took them somewhere else. Or if they died. :(


There has been a 90% reduction in large ocean fish from what I've heard...

[Zorra]

6. Yesterday I walked on the beach where I used to see schools of

dolphins jumping not far from shore every time I went there. (I can see the ocean from my house and walk the beach quite a bit).

I have not seen a dolphin out there for something like a year.

I was already concerned about this but now this thread has got me worried.

[VegasWolf]

8. Hi Zorra, I used to see them by the hundreds every day in the FL Gulf

beaches!

[0rganism]

7. Guess the Vogons are on the way, then

Time for a few stiff drinks and a paper sack.

[catzies]

9. Don't forget your towel

If the dolphins left, I wish they'd taken me with them. :cry:

[0rganism]

10. I won't be needing a towel, my electronic thumb is busted

I'm here to the bloody end, unfortunately.

[Lori Price CLG]

11. Polar bears are in danger, too - as they need the icy climate...

...which is diminishing due to global warming.

So sad...

Lori

[hatrack]

12. You thought vanishing dolphins alarming? Chew on this tidbit!

Atlantic Current Subduction Zones Drop From 12 To 2 As Conveyer Falters

"Powerful ocean currents are grinding slowly to a halt, raising the possibility of a catastrophic climate "flip" that could chill Europe and warm New Zealand, startling new evidence suggests.

Scientists have detected evidence of a slowdown in the ocean currents that control climate worldwide, supporting earlier research on the threats of global warming. Without these currents, parts of the globe are expected to alter dramatically. The climate in Europe would cool significantly, while New Zealand would be warmer and more susceptible to exotic diseases, scientists suggest.

The powerful ocean current system, often known as the ocean conveyor, creates a flow of warm surface water towards the North Atlantic, where it is cooled and sinks to start the circulation of cool deep-sea water throughout the world's oceans. As part of this process, large "chimneys" of very cold water spiral to the ocean floor, playing a key role in ocean flows.

But Cambridge University ocean physicist and Polar Ocean Physics Group head Professor Peter Wadhams has released research showing the number of these chimneys has declined from about 12 to two as a result of global warming. Releasing the research to a meeting of the European Geosciences Union in Vienna last month, Professor Wadhams said the disappearance of the chimneys, reducing the circulation of the oceans, would cool the climate of Northern Europe as less warm water flowed to the region. Other oceanographers have stressed that Professor Wadhams' findings are only one piece of a complex puzzle."

EDIT

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=115x24852

[VegasWolf]

14. Hatrack, you alarmist! You gotta go with the flow, so to speak! Pangea

is so 30's, like 38,230 BCE. So New Zealand becomes the new
Tahiti, I can see that. Let's buy property now before it goes
outa site!!!

[Karenina]

16. It's happening NOW.

June 2 in Western Europe... there is a distinct "nip" in the air. This is different from the normal, volatile weather. It's not about the temperature, there's a cold wind a-blowin' once the sun sets...

[Nostradamus]

17. the NZ property market is already out of control

our land prices are being pumped up by rich foreignrrs who think that this will be some sort of lifeboat when the balloon goes up..

[hatrack]

19. Yeah, but I work so damn hard over on the Environment board . . .

I figure, ANY damn scary thing to get y'all to drop by! :hi:

[bloom]

15. Sometimes it's the things you see - or don't see

that is alarming.

Sure the climate is out of whack and the oceans... but people love to SEE dophins and know they are there. If the "chimneys" disappear - what's that to most of us. :)

[jobycom]

13. I was going to make a Hitchhiker's crack, but that's too sad to joke about

[Moxygirl]

18. I live on the Manatee River in Florida

and I see more dolphins now than I ever did up in the river. I'm an avid fisherman and wildlife junkie and I've seen no decline in dolphin populations in the tampa bay area.