Ocean News: Ocean life facing major shock Science Alert

Ocean News: ARC CENTRE OF EXCELLENCE FOR CORAL REEF STUDIES   WEDNESDAY, 22 AUGUST 2012-The researchers compared events which drove mass extinctions of sea life in the past with what is currently happening in our oceans, and found life in the oceans now face greater challenges than in our history and may take millions of years to recover. 

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Life in the world’s oceans faces far greater change and risk of large-scale extinctions than at any previous time in human history, a team of the world’s leading marine scientists has warned.The researchers from Australia, the US, Canada, Germany, Panama, Norway and the UK have compared events which drove massive extinctions of sea life in the past with what is observed to be taking place in the seas and oceans globally today.Three of the five largest extinctions of the past 500 million years were associated with global warming and acidification of the oceans – trends which also apply today, the scientists say in a new article in the journal Trends in Ecology and Evolution.Other extinctions were driven by loss of oxygen from seawaters, pollution, habitat loss and pressure from human hunting and fishing – or a combination of these factors.

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