Blue whales' mysterious silence leave scientists worried as it sends a dire warning to humanity
According to the details published in the journal PLOS One, devastating heat waves have triggered worrying changes over the past decade, allowing toxic algae to bloom and undermine food sources for whales. The heatwaves have disrupted the whales' environment, causing a chain reaction in the ocean's food web.
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The heatwave reduced the food whales rely on and triggered harmful changes in ocean chemistry, allowing toxic algae to bloom, the study reveals 'It caused the most widespread poisoning of marine mammals ever documented. These were hard times for whales,' John Ryan, a biological oceanographer at the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute, told National Geographic.
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Are blue whales going silent?
In a study published earlier this year, which traced more than six years of acoustic monitoring in the central California Current Ecosystem, Ryan and a team of researchers found clear patterns in whale song across seasons and years. By chance, the recordings began during a massive marine heatwave unlike anything seen before in the region.
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As a result, blue whale vocalizations dropped by almost 40 percent, according to the study, with populations of krill and anchovy collapsing.
"When you really break it down, it's like trying to sing while you're starving," Ryan explained. "They were spending all their time just trying to find food."
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The trouble started with a strange patch of unusually warm water in the Pacific Ocean, nicknamed 'The Blob.' Discovered in 2013, it expanded by 2016 into a vast area spanning over 2,000 miles. The spike in ocean temperatures devastated essential food sources for whales.
Scientists are still racing to understand the causes of devastating
marine heatwaves
. An ominous pool of warm water in the ocean, nicknamed "The Blob" following its discovery in early 2013, confounded scientists.
High temperatures impacting blue whales?
Scientists are still racing to understand the effects of rising ocean temperatures. And as climate change continues to rear its ugly head, scientists are worried about future extreme weather events, including marine heatwaves. Scientists have found that the duration of these heatwaves has tripled since the 1940s.
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Kelly Benoit-Bird, a marine biologist at the Monterey Bay Aquarium, said, 'There are whole ecosystem consequences of these marine heat waves. If they can't find food, and they can traverse the entire West Coast of North America, that is a really large-scale consequence.'
Oregon State University ecologist Dawn Barlow added, 'Fewer feeding opportunities' mean that blue whales 'put less effort into reproduction.' Barlow emphasized that their movement and behavior reveal a lot about ocean health. 'Where they are, and what they're doing can tell you a lot about the health of the ecosystem.
Benoit-Bird voiced concerns of reaching a "tipping point," which could have devastating consequences on our climate, changing how the "ocean absorbs carbon."
"Science shows that climate change is impacting the oceans," Barlow told NatGeo. "Listening and learning from these places is essential to our future. Now more than ever, it's important to listen."
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