Spring Break
Global warming destroys marine life
Regina Forker
Issue date: 3/23/05 Section: News
Global warming is affecting the planet in infinite ways. Robert Whitlatch and a team of researchers are studying the effects rising temperatures in coastal waters are having on marine communities and habitats.
Whitlatch, a professor of marine sciences at the Avery Point campus, has been studying coastal zone marine populations and communities for about 25 years.
"Our main hypotheses are, one, that the warming of coastal waters is resulting in an increasing frequency of invasion of new species resulting in drastic changes in marine communities and habitats, and two, that the faunal changes and lower diversities in stressed habitats make these areas more open to invasion," Whitlatch said.
According to Whitlatch, the study is based at different sites along the Southern New England coast and "will directly test the impact of global climate change on shallow-water marine communities that are most likely to suffer from the poleward spread of species as coastal waters warm," he said.
Dr. Richard W. Osman from the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center in Edgewater, Mass., is the co-principal investigator on the project.
Whitlatch and his team are in their second year of the three-year research project.
Once the research and data collection is complete, Whitlatch hopes to publish a number of peer reviewed articles in scientific journals to get the word out on his research results to the scientific community.
"We would like to expend the ideas to a broader regional area, mainly to first see how general the results are - can they be applied to other systems and then try to get a broader understanding of how these systems are reacting to climate change," Whitlatch said.
This project is made possible by a $560,000 grant from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
"The funds were obtained through a competitive proposal process," Whitlatch said. "The agency announced a call for proposals in the general subject area of multiple stressors in the coastal zone; specifically how land use patterns and climate change may be influencing coastal zone resources and how to develop ways of assisting coastal zone managers in dealing with these issues."
Whitlatch, a professor of marine sciences at the Avery Point campus, has been studying coastal zone marine populations and communities for about 25 years.
"Our main hypotheses are, one, that the warming of coastal waters is resulting in an increasing frequency of invasion of new species resulting in drastic changes in marine communities and habitats, and two, that the faunal changes and lower diversities in stressed habitats make these areas more open to invasion," Whitlatch said.
According to Whitlatch, the study is based at different sites along the Southern New England coast and "will directly test the impact of global climate change on shallow-water marine communities that are most likely to suffer from the poleward spread of species as coastal waters warm," he said.
Dr. Richard W. Osman from the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center in Edgewater, Mass., is the co-principal investigator on the project.
Whitlatch and his team are in their second year of the three-year research project.
Once the research and data collection is complete, Whitlatch hopes to publish a number of peer reviewed articles in scientific journals to get the word out on his research results to the scientific community.
"We would like to expend the ideas to a broader regional area, mainly to first see how general the results are - can they be applied to other systems and then try to get a broader understanding of how these systems are reacting to climate change," Whitlatch said.
This project is made possible by a $560,000 grant from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
"The funds were obtained through a competitive proposal process," Whitlatch said. "The agency announced a call for proposals in the general subject area of multiple stressors in the coastal zone; specifically how land use patterns and climate change may be influencing coastal zone resources and how to develop ways of assisting coastal zone managers in dealing with these issues."