What phenomenon is responsible for underwater blackouts that impact light-dependent marine life? This is what a recent study published in Communications Earth & Environment hopes to address as a team of scientists investigated the processes for underwater blackouts that are responsible for marine ecosystem decline. This study has the potential to help researchers, conservationists, and the public better understand marine ecosystems and how they can be protected.
For the study, the researchers conducted long-term field studies off the California and New Zealand coastlines to examine the impact of decreased sunlight on marine ecosystems. The goal of the study was to introduce a new type of light reduction known as marine darkwaves and ascertain the severity of them throughout the study regions. In the end, the researchers observed several episodes of darkwaves, with some up to 64 days, that significantly reduced sunlight reaching light-dependent marine ecosystems.
“We have long known that light levels are critical for photosynthetic organisms — like algae, seagrasses and corals — and that factors that reduce light to the seafloor can impact them,” said Dr. Bob Miller, who is a research biologist at UC Santa Barbara’s Marine Science Institute and a co-author on the study. “This study creates a framework for comparing such events, which we call darkwaves.”
These findings help build upon past studies that explored how ocean acidification and marine heatwaves are impacted by climate change. Therefore, studies like this demonstrate the long-term consequences of climate change and the importance of enforcing regulation. Additionally, while this study focused on how marine darkwaves impact marine ecosystems beneath the surface, darkwaves also influence water clarity, thus decreasing ocean observability and how it impacts coastal ecosystems.
What new insight into marine darkwaves will researchers make in the coming years and decades? Only time will tell, and this is why we science!
As always, keep doing science & keep looking up!
Sources: Communications Earth & Environment, EurekAlert!
Featured Image Credit: UC Santa Barbara