We thought the sea was infinite and inexhaustible. It is not. The overall rise in ocean temperature has led to the largest movement of marine species in two to three million years, according to scientists from the Climate Change and European Marine Ecosystems Research project. A February 2012 study of fourteen protected and eighteen unprotected ecosystems in the Mediterranean Sea demonstrated that this previously healthy sea is now quickly being depleted of resources. An international team of scientists conducted the study over a period of three years and found that in well-enforced marine reserve areas the fish populations were five to ten times greater than the fish populations in unprotected areas. The work of these scientists encourages the establishment and maintenance of marine reserves.
Censored News Cluster: Environment and Health
Julia Whitty, “The End of a Myth,” OnEarth, February 27, 2012, http://www.onearth.org/article/the-end-of-a-myth.
Richard Gray, “Warming Oceans Cause Largest Movement of Marine Species in Two Million Years,” Telegraph (UK), June 26, 2011, http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/earthnews/8598597/Warming-oceans-cause-largest-movement-of-marine-species-in-two-million-years.html.
David A. Gabel, “Overfishing the Mediterranean,” Environmental News Network, March 8, 2012, http://www.enn.com/ecosystems/article/44102.
Enric Sala et al., “The Structure of Mediterranean Rocky Reef Ecosystems across Environmental and Human Gradients, and Conservation Implications,” PLoS ONE 7, no. 2 (February 29, 2012), http://www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0032742.
Student Researchers: Taylor Falbisaner (Sonoma State University); Temple Chemotti (Santa Rosa Junior College)
Faculty Evaluators: Peter Phillips (Sonoma State University); Susan Rahman (Santa Rosa Junior College)