As The Ocean Heats Up Hungrier Predators Take Control
Published:13 Jun.2022 Source:Smithsonian
A hotter ocean is a hungrier ocean -- at least as far as fish predators are concerned. In a new field study published online June 9 in Science, Smithsonian scientists discovered predator impacts in the Atlantic and Pacific peak at higher temperatures. The effects cascade down to transform other life in the ocean, potentially disrupting balances that have existed for millennia.
"It's taken thousands of years to get to this state, and then suddenly we're ramping up the temperature at a much higher rate," said Gail Ashton, lead author of the report and marine biologist with the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center (SERC). "And we don't really know the implications of that temperature increase."