Spread of Marine Larvae Predicted

¶ … Spread of Marine Larvae Predicted by Ocean Temperature

Marine life in the world's oceans is increasingly encountering conditions that are rendering many species near extinction. It has never been so important for scientists to understand the reproduction process among marine life. New discoveries are breaking and are being reported that will surely assist scientists in their study of the reproduction processes of life in the world's seas and oceans.

The Science Daily article entitled "Ocean Temperature Predicts Spread of Marine Species" states that scientists have the ability to predict, "How the distance marine larvae travel varies with ocean temperature - a key component in conservation and management of fish, shellfish and other marine species - according to a new study from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill." (2006) The data which scientists gathered came from 72 marine species and included: (1) Cod; (2) Herring; (3) American Lobster; (4) Horseshoe crabs; and (5) Clams. It is held in this article that the scientists discovered that most of marine life, to include the species that are important commercially reproduce "via larvae that drift far along ocean currents before returning to join adult populations." (Science Daily, 2006)

The process of which study has been conducted and reported in this article is one that is referred to as "dispersal." Dispersal held by scientists to be linked directly to the temperature of the waters of the world's oceans. Stated in this article is that scientists discovered that the larvae in warmer waters travel less distance than larvae in cold water. The article states that temperature has the capacity to "alter the number and diversity of adult species in a certain area by changing where larvae end up." (Science Daily, 2006) The interesting thing to note is that less than 1% of the larvae actually survive the dispersal process as most are "consumed by predators, encounter harsh environments or never reach their destination and starve." (Science Daily, 2006) Scientists state that they suspect temperature as playing a critical role in dispersal of larvae because "metabolic processes in larvae are sensitive to temperature and similar among species." (Science Daily, 2006)

COMMENTS

Certainly, the importance of knowledge gained in this area of science has never been so critical as the life in the world's ocean is faced with change after change due to the climate changes occurring. Furthermore the understanding garnered in this study is of critical importance when considering the temperature changes that are occurring and are due to occur as the ice shelves melt and drift into the ocean current and begin cooling down the presently ocean waters that are presently experiencing higher than usual temperatures. The future of marine life is critically important in the commercial fishery industry and as well is just as important in the food-supply of those living on earth. Knowledge in this area will inform scientists as to the rate and success of reproduction in marine life and will further inform science as to the location of marine life based upon water temperatures in the future. It is interesting to note that the expected temperature changes of cooling ocean waters goes unmentioned in this article because it is specifically these upcoming changes to the ocean conveyor that make the findings of this research hold the importance that it certainly does possess. Of course, it has not yet become popular in the scientific community in some countries of the world to acknowledge that climate warming soon turns to cooling of the climate and specifically the cooling of the ocean as it becomes invaded by very large chunks of floating ice shelves that have melted in the polar regions of the earth..