photo credit: 23am.com
The recent Australian study of underwater marine life in Antarctica has revealed that is a home to over 7,500 species of sea creatures. This discovery led to WWF-Australia’s urging for an expansion of marine protected areas in the Antarctic region.
The study—2009 Census of Marine Life— also discovered that 235 animals were found in both Arctic and Antarctic oceans, which indicates that “the polar oceans are effective safe havens for species that arrive by chance.”—said Rob Nicoll, WWF-Australia, Antarctica and Southern Ocean Initiative Manager.
Moreover, the Antarctic current creates a sort of isolation from warmer waters and forces the species to develop defensive mechanisms against glacial temperatures, for instance antifreeze blood of a few types of deep sea fish. Previously thought to be marine deserts, the polar seas are now considered an effective tool of evolution, combining an element of isolation with a wide range of habitat where cold ocean species can thrive.
These isolated habitats around the Arctic and Antarctic oceans are threatened by warming of the climate, which forces the animals to move closer to the poles. Scientists are urging the governments to commit to drastic cuts in CO2 emissions because otherwise future expeditions will “simply create a list of species in our oceans that will perish due to climate change.”—Nicoll says.
Unfortunately, climate change is only one of the many threats to biodiversity in areas such as Antarctic oceans. Others include invasive species, oils spills, pollution form shipping activities and unregulated illegal fishing. These issues are a serious concern for scientists trying to preserve the homes to thousands of species that may soon become extinct.
