Off the West Coast, a bloom of toxic algae as wide as 64 killmeters and as deep 198 meters has been developing. Many fisheries from California to Alaska have been shut down as marine life has been poisoned by the bloom. Crab seasons may be cut short as a higher level of toxins are being found in crab meat. Researchers say these types of blooms are usually common, but not in this size.
The cause of the gigantic algae bloom is unknown, but researchers are taking guesses at what it could be. The main cause they think it could be is from climate change. They found an area of water that is warmee by 3 degrees Celsius than other areas of water. The researchers are speculating that global climate change could be making these algae cycles larger and harder to deal with.
This is a very huge problem if it is directly related to climate change. It proves that we need to work on changing our daily lifestyles to try and prevent these things from happening.
Researchers should continue to look for the connections that this growth of algae has with bigger environmental problems such as climate change. If it is found that climate change truly is the cause of this toxic algae that is ruining ecosystems, it will only make a bigger case as to why people need to be more aware of the environmental issues around them and also more adamant about bettering them.
ReplyDeleteI believe that the increase in algae growth may be caused by global warming, as such vegetation thrives in warmer temperatures. Although this phenomenon may seem positive, any diversion in populations may negatively affect the ecosystems.
ReplyDeleteI definitely agree with Jacob when he state at the end that " we need to work on changing our daily lifestyles to try and prevents these things from happening." The things that we are doing now are affecting our food source and the food source of other animals. Jacob also states that the crab meat are found to be poisoned by these algae. This is affecting the food source and the food chain for animals and humans. Climate change is definitely having a huge impact on the growth of these toxic algae, as is stated by Jacob when he says that the researchers found an area of water that was three degrees warmer.
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