Ocean experiencing conditions that caused “Great Death”
August 27, 2012
STRI staff scientist, Aaron O’Dea, with researchers from the US, Australia, Germany, Norway and the UK, compared conditions that created massive extinctions of sea life
STRI staff scientist, Aaron O’Dea, with researchers from the US, Australia, Germany, Norway and the UK, compared conditions that created massive extinctions of sea life in the past to events occurring in the oceans today.
Three of five of the largest extinctions during the last 500 million years were associated with global warming and ocean acidification—both of which threaten marine life today. In the ‘Great Death’ at the end of the Permian period 250 million years ago, an estimated 95 percent of marine species died out due to a combination of warming, acidification and loss of oxygen.
But there’s hope. “We see clear evidence from both the past and the present that sea life can bounce back, if given a chance to do so,” said John Pandolfi, professor at the University of Queensland and former STRI post-doctoral fellow. “That means a combined effort that implements and enforces reserves where marine life has a refuge and also tackles the global drivers of warming and acidification,” adds O’Dea.
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