. Earth Science News .
WATER WORLD
Humanity must rescue oceans to rescue itself, UN warns
By Marlowe HOOD
Monaco (AFP) Sept 25, 2019

Most private boats in the Mediterranean are carrying alien species
Washington (UPI) Sep 25, 2019 - A new survey of private boats in marinas in the Mediterranean showed most are carrying species alien to the places they're moored or docked.

The Mediterranean Sea is a marine biodiversity hotspot, but it's also a magnet for alien species. Invertebrates begin spawning in early summer, around the same time recreational boaters head to the Mediterranean.

To better understand how alien species enter into and spread throughout the Mediterranean, scientists studied the hulls of private boats in 25 marinas across the Mediterranean, from France to Cyprus.

In addition to searching for evidence of alien species, scientists noted each boat's characteristics, home marina and travel history.

"Boats which have visited Eastern Mediterranean marinas had an especially high risk of spreading alien species due to the closer proximity to the Suez Canal, where most alien species enter the Mediterranean," lead study author Aylin Ulman, a researcher at the University of Pavia in Italy, said in a news release.

The survey -- detailed Wednesday in the Journal of Applied Ecology -- found the average boat in the Mediterranean is has spent more than two months traveling and stopped at at least 6 marinas. At least one non-indigenous species was found on 71 percent of the more than 600 boats tested.

Alien species were most likely to be found on ladders and propellers. And scientists found that even after boats had been professionally cleaned, alien species were quick to recolonize.

Scuba divers found alien annelids, molluscs, tunicates, crustaceans and bryozoans on the hulls, ladders and propellers of the surveyed boats. Alien species can disrupt ecosystems, threatening native biodiversity, and also harm aquaculture operations, causing economic damage.

According to one previous study, invasive species are the largest driver of animal and plant extinctions over the last five centuries.

Authors of the new study suggest more must be done to identify the boats and marinas that are most likely to host and aid the spread of harmful alien species.

"Longtime colleague Jasmine Ferrario at the University of Pavia is using this extensive dataset on alien species to build a model to identify high-risk marinas using environmental factors and marina characteristics. Some new marinas are now being sampled to validate the model," said researcher Aylin Ulman.

Two days after a climate summit failed to deliver game-changing pledges to slash carbon emissions, the United Nations warned Wednesday that global warming is devastating oceans and Earth's frozen spaces in ways that directly threaten a large slice of humanity.

Crumbling ice sheets, marine heatwaves, melting glaciers, ocean dead zones, thawing permafrost -- a raft of impacts on sea and ice are decimating fish stocks, lifting seas, depleting fresh water stores, and incubating superstorms that will ravage some cities annually by mid-century.

Some of these impacts are irreversible on a timescale of centuries, according to a landmark assessment approved by the 195-nation Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).

Synthesising 7,000 peer-reviewed studies, the report is yet another smelling-salts reminder that record greenhouse gas emissions, mostly from burning fossil fuels, are driving the planet towards a hothouse climate our species could find intolerable.

But it also raises a red flag on the need to confront changes that can no longer be averted.

For some island nations and coastal cities, that will almost certainly mean finding new places to call home.

- Crumbling ice sheets -

"Even if we manage to limit global warming, we will continue to see major changes in the oceans," said Valerie Masson-Delmotte, a researcher at the Laboratory for Climate and Environmental Sciences and an IPCC co-chair.

"But it will at least buy us some time, both for future impacts, and to adapt."

The underlying 900-page scientific report is the fourth such UN tome in less than a year, with others focused on a 1.5-Celsius cap on global warming, the decline of biodiversity, as well as land use and the global food system.

All four conclude that humanity must overhaul how it produces, distributes and consumes almost everything to avoid the worst ravages of global warming and environmental degradation.

By absorbing a quarter of manmade CO2 and soaking up more than 90 percent of the heat generated by greenhouse gases, oceans have kept the planet livable -- but at a terrible cost, the report finds.

"The oceans and cryosphere" -- Earth's frozen zones -- "have been taking the heat from climate change for decades," said IPCC co-chair Ko Barrett, an official at the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).

"But it can't keep up."

Seas have grown acidic, potentially undermining their capacity to draw down CO2; warmer surface water has expanded the force and range of deadly tropical storms; marine heatwaves are wiping out shallow-water coral reefs, which are unlikely to survive the century.

Most threatening of all, accelerating melt-off from glaciers and especially Earth's ice sheets atop Greenland and Antarctica are driving sea level rise.

As if on cue, part of a massive glacier on the Italian side of the Mont Blanc mountain range was deemed close to collapse on Wednesday, a victim of rapid melting in the late summer heat.

- 'A world of higher seas' -

Since 2005, the ocean has risen 2.5 times faster than during the 20th century, a pace that could quadruple again by 2100 if carbon emissions continue unabated, the report found.

"Regardless of emissions scenarios, we face a world of higher sea levels," said co-author Bruce Glavovic, a professor at Massey University, New Zealand, noting that humanity is concentrated on the world's shorelines.

"It doesn't take a big rise in sea level to lead to catastrophic problems," he added. "Sea level rise is not a slow onset problem -- it's a crisis of extreme weather events."

By 2050, many coastal megacities and small island nations will experience what were formerly once-a-century weather disasters every year -- even with an aggressive drawdown of greenhouse gas emissions.

And by mid-century, more than a billion people will be living in vulnerable low-lying areas.

- Hefty price tag -

Some cities, such as New York, plan to spend tens of billions of dollars -- and probably far more -- to shore up their defences.

Indeed, building dikes and levees along with other measures would substantially reduce the costs of flooding caused by sea level rise and storm surges, according to the IPCC report's 42-page Summary for Policy Makers.

But the cost of implementing such measures could reach hundreds of billions of dollars a year.

For many megacities and densely populated deltas in the developing world, an engineered solution will be impractical or prohibitively expensive.

Under the IPCC's consensus rules, all countries must sign off on the language of the report's executive summary, designed to provide leaders with objective, science-based information.

The five-day meeting in Monaco went deep into overtime when Saudi Arabia took issue with a reference to global warming caps.

The 2015 Paris Agreement calls for capping global warming at "well below" 2 C, and 1.5 C if possible.

Earth's temperature has so far risen 1 C above pre-industrial levels.


Related Links
Water News - Science, Technology and Politics


Thanks for being here;
We need your help. The SpaceDaily news network continues to grow but revenues have never been harder to maintain.

With the rise of Ad Blockers, and Facebook - our traditional revenue sources via quality network advertising continues to decline. And unlike so many other news sites, we don't have a paywall - with those annoying usernames and passwords.

Our news coverage takes time and effort to publish 365 days a year.

If you find our news sites informative and useful then please consider becoming a regular supporter or for now make a one off contribution.
SpaceDaily Contributor
$5 Billed Once


credit card or paypal
SpaceDaily Monthly Supporter
$5 Billed Monthly


paypal only


WATER WORLD
English Channel dolphins riddled with toxins
Paris (AFP) Sept 12, 2019
The skin and blubber of bottlenose dolphins in the English Channel contain alarmingly high concentrations of mercury and other toxic pollutants, researchers said Thursday. Biopsies taken from scores of the coastal dwelling mammals revealed levels among the highest ever observed for the species, as reported in the Scientific Reports journal. The toxins - which become especially concentrated in mother's milk - have been linked to declining birthrates among numerous marine mammals. Long-las ... read more

Comment using your Disqus, Facebook, Google or Twitter login.



Share this article via these popular social media networks
del.icio.usdel.icio.us DiggDigg RedditReddit GoogleGoogle

WATER WORLD
Physics shows criminals more likely to find accomplices in big cities

Honey heals wounds of war in Colombian village

Technologies for crisis management in the event of a disaster

Sheet roofs: Puerto Rico reels 2 years after Hurricane Maria

WATER WORLD
Gem-like nanoparticles of precious metals shine as catalysts

MIT engineers develop 'blackest black' material to date

Mining industry seeks to polish tarnished reputation

L3Harris awarded nearly $12.8M for Eglin AN/FPS-85 radar work

WATER WORLD
Jellyfish thrive in the man-made disruption of the oceans

Mumbai fears for homes and lives amid rising seas

Yemen upcycles shot-up buses to ease water shortage

China 'highly appreciates' Kiribati cutting ties with Taiwan

WATER WORLD
W. Antarctica's crumbling ice sheet to redraw global coastline

Geologists found links between deep sea methane emissions and ice ages

Swiss hold high-altitude wake for lost glacier

Melting snowcaps spell water trouble for world's highest capital

WATER WORLD
Seoul confirms 4th swine fever case, asks Pyongyang for cooperation

Ox-drawn plows to blame for increased inequality in Eurasia beginning in 4,000 BC

Scientists to help grains besides rice survive flooding

Farmers, chefs fight to save classic ingredients in Mexican cuisine

WATER WORLD
Death toll in Pakistan quake climbs to 22 as rescuers assess damage

Caribbean gets smart to cope with hurricanes

The cataclysm that created a Korean icon

Faults' hot streaks and slumps could change earthquake hazard assessments

WATER WORLD
UN eases arms embargo on Central African Republic

Suspect funds used to send military gear to Sudan neighbours: Bashir trial witness

In Ivory Coast, telemedicine revolution proves blessing for heart patients

S.Sudan rebel leader to meet president in Juba: sources

WATER WORLD
Ape-like pelvis found in Hungary could change the story of human evolution

What the noggin of modern humans' ancestor would have looked like

One species, many origins

Scientists use DNA methylation to determine what Denisovans looked like









The content herein, unless otherwise known to be public domain, are Copyright 1995-2024 - Space Media Network. All websites are published in Australia and are solely subject to Australian law and governed by Fair Use principals for news reporting and research purposes. AFP, UPI and IANS news wire stories are copyright Agence France-Presse, United Press International and Indo-Asia News Service. ESA news reports are copyright European Space Agency. All NASA sourced material is public domain. Additional copyrights may apply in whole or part to other bona fide parties. All articles labeled "by Staff Writers" include reports supplied to Space Media Network by industry news wires, PR agencies, corporate press officers and the like. Such articles are individually curated and edited by Space Media Network staff on the basis of the report's information value to our industry and professional readership. Advertising does not imply endorsement, agreement or approval of any opinions, statements or information provided by Space Media Network on any Web page published or hosted by Space Media Network. General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) Statement Our advertisers use various cookies and the like to deliver the best ad banner available at one time. All network advertising suppliers have GDPR policies (Legitimate Interest) that conform with EU regulations for data collection. By using our websites you consent to cookie based advertising. If you do not agree with this then you must stop using the websites from May 25, 2018. Privacy Statement. Additional information can be found here at About Us.