Posted on 03/11/2006 3:18:09 PM PST by Enviroboy3000
Warmer Arctic Waters Forcing Animals North
By CLAYTON SANDELL March 9, 2006 — - The Bering Sea -- which lies just south of the Arctic Circle between Russia and Alaska -- is getting warmer, and the heat is already having a huge impact on marine wildlife there.
Among the findings is a declining food supply for populations of walrus, gray whales and sea ducks in this northern sea.
It appears that these animals now have to compete with fish populations that have pushed into their territory, said the study's lead author, Jacqueline Grebmeier of the University of Tennessee.
Near-freezing water in the northern Bering Sea has traditionally kept bottom-feeding fish like halibut and flounder farther south in warmer waters. But as temperatures have risen -- as much as 6 degrees Fahrenheit at the sea floor -- the fish have moved farther north, where they eat the food favored by the larger marine mammals.
"This demonstrates the biological effect in an area so shallow that it doesn't take much to fundamentally change the system," said Lee Cooper, chemical oceanographer at the University of Tennessee and co-author of the study. "It's a little sobering."
The report presents evidence that "gray whales have responded by moving their primary foraging area northward," and cites a "surprising detection" of gray whale calls in the winter of 2003-2004 near Barrow, Alaska, a place where local hunters report "more numerous gray whales than in any time previously."
But there is a limit to how far north the whales and other mammals can go.
"You eventually fall off the continental shelf," Grebmeier said. "They don't have to go very far north of Barrow and they're into that much deeper water basin. And they can't find food that deep."
More here: http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/story?id=1706459&page=1
(Excerpt) Read more at abcnews.go.com ...
Somehow I don't think that's possible.
Only through underwater volcanic activity, and we all "know" that is Bush's fault!
It's that Global Warming, of course!
Take that weak stuff outta here, baby...I got some warming up for you comin' up! Attention all passengers, here comes the Pain Train...woo woo!!!
Ursula stands on the still-smoking carcass of the enemy…
Hi Sarge!
how are you this morning?
Send em some SUV's
IA
Bite your tongue.
Can you send some of that cold air my way. It is 84 degrees in my house at 6:52 a.m. -- the a.c. is broken. Time for a swim.
Every single troll is now an ENEMY OF THE REPUBLIC!
One of your tofu-eating, vegan, tree-hugging, recycling, hemp-clothes-wearing, fruity, friends works at the company I work at. He was talking about this story, and how humans are 'sooo, like, ruining the earth'.
His whining and weeping about warming, and rising sea levels made me want to puke. No amount of discussion, or presentation of facts would sway his opinion.
After 30-40 minutes of this, I'd had enough. I told him to get a glass, put ice cubes in it, fill it with water, and call me when the ice melted and the glass overflowed.
Gee, I haven't heard back...
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