Jellyfish may contribute to global warming
The unusual increase of jellyfish population in the world can make worse global warming and can lead to ecological disaster. These marine gelatinous creatures that annoy some people in the summer holidays, are producing more carbon than the oceans are capable of assimilating. This conclusion arrives from the study led by Rob Condon from the Virginian Institute of Marine Science and published in the journal magazine Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
The report explains that while the bacteria in the sea can absorb carbon, nitrogen, phosphorus and other chemicals released by most of the fish when they die, they cannot do the same with jellyfish. And this means more carbon emissions are released in the atmosphere. In an interesting article on the subject published today in The Guardian, the newspaper relates this investigation with the increasing problem of the ocean acidification, one of the problems caused by global warming.
Jellyfish are increasingly numerous and they have particularly high biomass levels especially levels high in carbon and it is impossible to be absorbed by bacteria. Instead of multiplying with the jellyfish, bacteria inhale carbon, which means that more gas emissions go to the atmosphere. The overpopulation of jellyfish has been attributed to factors such as climate change, overfishing and runoff of agricultural fertilisers. The rise in sea temperatures, as said in The Guardian, and the elimination of predators such as sharks and tuna have improved the habitat of these animals.
The research also found that the overpopulation of these animals also affects the cycle of marine food because cnidaria eat huge quantities of plankton, depriving small fishes to eat.
