Climate change has 'losers,' but ocean also has 'winners'

[jpak]

http://pressherald.mainetoday.com/news/state/070308climate.html

Melting Arctic ice and fresh water flowing into the North Atlantic -- patterns that are expected to increase as the planet heats up -- have contributed to rapid shifts of sea life in the Gulf of Maine, according to a study co-authored by a Portland-based scientist.

The researchers linked pulses of fresh water that flowed south out of the Arctic in the late 1980s to explosions in plankton abundance here in the 1990s.

The study does not attribute the phenomenon to human-induced global warming. Rather, it points to one more way -- in addition to rising ocean temperatures and sea levels -- that a changing climate may alter life in the ocean and affect the North Atlantic's commercial fisheries and marine mammals.

"Scientists have a pretty good idea of how climate change is going to change the planet" in a broad sense, said Andrew Pershing, a University of Maine assistant professor of oceanography. "What we need to spend a lot of effort understanding is what the impact will be on these regional areas."

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[kestrel91316]

1. Yeah, but I hear the coral reefs are pretty much toast. And the increasing

acidity of the oceans is ultimately very harmful to plankton.

Jellyfish, on the other hand, appear to be having a field day.

[IChing]

3. Jellyfish and plankton

Jellyfish: as an animal has very little needs and has survived for a long time

Jellyfish do not have a specialized digestive system, osmoregulatory system, central nervous system, respiratory system, or circulatory system. They are able to digest with the help of the gastrodermis that lines the gastrovascular cavity, where nutrients from their food are absorbed. They do not need a respiratory system since their skin is thin enough that oxygen can easily diffuse in and out of their bodies. Jellyfish have limited control over their movement and mostly free-float, but can use a hydrostatic skeleton that controls the water pouch in their body to actuate vertical movement.

However plankton has been here longer and transforms in a evolutionary way faster than jellyfish.

Meanwhile
Mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians and fish are struggling now.

[Shallah Kali]

2. Oil companies are drooling at the thought of the oil up there & clear shipping lanes to it

ick.