{"id":804,"date":"2014-01-11T20:31:24","date_gmt":"2014-01-12T01:31:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.reefrelieffounders.com\/news\/?p=804"},"modified":"2014-01-11T20:31:24","modified_gmt":"2014-01-12T01:31:24","slug":"ee-a-largely-unmapped-food-resource-continues-to-shrink-study","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.reefrelieffounders.com\/news\/2014\/01\/11\/ee-a-largely-unmapped-food-resource-continues-to-shrink-study\/","title":{"rendered":"E&E: A largely unmapped food resource continues to shrink — study"},"content":{"rendered":"
\nDaniel Lippman, E&E reporter<\/i><\/div>\n
Published: Friday, January 10, 2014<\/i><\/p>\n

Japan, Greece and the Philippines are among the countries that enjoy
\nlots of marine biodiversity but are at highest risk of damage from
\nhuman impacts like overfishing, marine pollution and climate change,
\naccording to a new study.<\/p>\n

There are varying estimates of how many species are in the world’s
\noceans (2.2 million is a common estimate), but the vast majority of
\nthem have never been seen or named by scientists. Decreases in marine
\nbiodiversity can threaten coastal protection services and ecosystem
\nservices like fisheries.<\/p>\n

The new study used a database of where 12,500 marine species are
\nlocated and combined the data with maps of where human impacts are
\nhaving major negative effects on oceans. With limited resources to
\nprotect the ocean, finding out which areas have the most marine species
\nand are at highest risk can help policymakers decide how to prioritize.<\/p>\n

“Our results emphasize the importance of both developing policies that
\npromote sustainable fisheries management and that also reduce the human
\nactivities responsible for climate change,” said Elizabeth Selig, the
\nstudy’s lead author.<\/p>\n

For Japan, the risks to its coral reef species and cold-water species
\ninclude fishing, climate change and shipping pollution. For Greece,
\nrisks include overfishing and runoff from land pollution. Marine
\nspecies in the Philippines are threatened by shipping traffic pollution
\nand damaging practices such as dynamite fishing.<\/p>\n

Where protein supplies are at risk<\/p>\n

The oceans that are most at risk include the southwest Indian Ocean,
\nthe Mediterranean and Baltic seas, and the so-called Coral Triangle in
\nSoutheast Asia.<\/p>\n

According to the Convention on Biological Diversity, fish and marine
\ninvertebrates provide more than 2.6 billion people with at least a
\nfifth of their protein intake. A major loss of marine biodiversity
\ncould threaten parts of that food source.<\/p>\n

Selig, director of marine science at Conservation International, warned
\nthat high temperatures can particularly affect coral reef systems in
\nthe tropics where, when temperatures are high enough for an extended
\nperiod of time, it can cause coral bleaching and coral deaths.<\/p>\n

“Because those corals are the foundation on which all the species in
\nthose regions depend, coral deaths can lead to a major ecosystem
\ncollapse,” she said in a telephone interview.<\/p>\n

However, the news isn’t all bad, and there are opportunities to protect
\nmarine biodiversity. Areas that have lots of marine biodiversity but
\nare relatively unaffected by human activities include southern Africa,
\nAustralia and South America, according to Selig.<\/p>\n

She acknowledged that there can be natural changes in species
\ncomposition but said “the levels of change now are really unprecedented
\nand a real cause for concern.”<\/p>\n

The study was published this week in PLOS ONE.<\/p><\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
Special thanks to Richard Charter<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Daniel Lippman, E&E reporter Published: Friday, January 10, 2014 Japan, Greece and the Philippines are among the countries that enjoy lots of marine biodiversity but are at highest risk of damage from human impacts like overfishing, marine pollution and climate change, according to a new study. There are varying estimates of how many species are … Continue reading E&E: A largely unmapped food resource continues to shrink — study<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[7,6,8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-804","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-climate-change","category-coral-reef-ecology","category-oceanography"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.reefrelieffounders.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/804","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.reefrelieffounders.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.reefrelieffounders.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.reefrelieffounders.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.reefrelieffounders.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=804"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.reefrelieffounders.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/804\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":805,"href":"https:\/\/www.reefrelieffounders.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/804\/revisions\/805"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.reefrelieffounders.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=804"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.reefrelieffounders.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=804"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.reefrelieffounders.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=804"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}