Warmed-up oceans reduce key food link

NF Reporter · 12-06-2006, 06:04 PM

AP - In a "sneak peak" revealing a grim side effect of future warmer seas, new NASA satellite data find that the vital base of the ocean food web shrinks when the world's seas get hotter.

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waltky · 12-29-2007, 01:41 AM

Oceans dying?...

Study: Deep-Sea Species' Loss Could Lead To Oceans' Collapse
Friday, December 28, 2007 - The loss of deep-sea species poses a severe threat to the future of the oceans, suggests a new report in Current Biology.

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In a global-scale study, the researchers found some of the first evidence that the health of the deep sea, as measured by the rate of critical ecosystem processes, increases exponentially with the diversity of species living there. “For the first time, we have demonstrated that deep-sea ecosystem functioning is closely dependent upon the number of species inhabiting the ocean floor,” said Roberto Danovaro of the Polytechnic University of Marche, in Italy. “This shows that we need to preserve biodiversity, and especially deep-sea biodiversity, because otherwise the negative consequences could be unprecedented. We must care about species that are far from us and [essentially] invisible.”

Ecosystem functioning involves several processes, which can be summarized as the production, consumption, and transfer of organic matter to higher levels of the food chain, the decomposition of organic matter, and the regeneration of nutrients, he explained. Recent investigations on land have suggested that biodiversity loss might impair the functioning and sustainability of ecosystems, Danovaro said. However, the data needed to evaluate the consequences of biodiversity loss on the ocean floor had been completely lacking, despite the fact that the deep sea covers 65% of the Earth and is “by far the most important ecosystem for the cycling of carbon, nitrogen, and phosphorus of the biosphere.” The deep sea also supports the largest “biomass” of living things, including a large proportion of undiscovered species.

In the new study, Danovaro’s team examined the biodiversity of nematode worms and several independent indicators of ecosystem functioning and efficiency at 116 deep-sea sites. Nematodes are the most abundant animals on earth and account for more than 90% of all life at the bottom of the sea. Earlier studies have also suggested that nematode diversity is a good proxy for the diversity of other deep-sea species. They found that sites with a higher diversity of nematodes support exponentially higher rates of ecosystem processes and an increased efficiency with which those processes are performed. Efficiency reflects the ability of an ecosystem to exploit the available energy in the form of food sources, the researchers said. Overall, they added, “our results suggest that a higher biodiversity can enhance the ability of deep-sea benthic systems to perform the key biological and biogeochemical processes that are crucial for their sustainable functioning.”

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waltky · 09-04-2010, 11:36 PM

Food price crisis in China...

China Orders Action to Cool Rising Food Prices
Friday, September 03, 2010 - China has ordered local leaders to cool a surge in politically sensitive food prices by raising vegetable production amid rising tensions in poor countries over surging food costs.

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Mayors were told to make sure local markets have a week's supply of vegetables, said a Cabinet announcement on Friday. It said state banks were told to lend to producers to increase output amid shortages blamed on summer flooding and drought in some areas. "Making sure of vegetable supplies and price stability is an important task for now and in the future," the Cabinet statement said. "Local governments should manage inflation expectations well and realize the importance and urgency of this."

China's food price inflation spiked to 6.8 percent in July over a year earlier, pushing overall inflation to 3.3 percent, its highest level this year, according to government figures. Elsewhere, a jump in food prices triggered deadly riots in Mozambique this week and the poor in Asia, the Middle East and Africa are under strain after global prices jumped 6 percent in the past two months alone. No unrest has been reported in China but food prices are politically sensitive in an economy where the poor majority spend up to half their incomes to eat.

Beijing has repeatedly emphasized the importance of ensuring adequate food supplies this year and has threatened to punish merchants who profiteer. China also suffered a spike in food costs earlier when vegetable prices jumped 14.9 percent in April and fruit prices soared 16.4 percent. Beijing has repeatedly said it is confident of meeting its 3 percent inflation target for 2010. But private sector analysts expect overall August inflation to rise above 3.5 percent, driven partly by food costs.

CNSNews.com - China Orders Action to Cool Rising Food Prices