Antarctic species short of food, warming cited

[Jim__]

Warmer temperatures and disappearing sea ice in the Southern Ocean appear to be causing food shortages that could threaten Antarctic whales, seals and penguins, scientists said in a study released Wednesday.


The vanishing ice in the winter has resulted in an 80 percent drop in the number of Antarctic krill, a shrimp-like crustacean that is a major source of food for animals in the region.

“This is the first time that we have understood the full scale of this decline,” said Angus Atkinson, a marine biologist at the British Antarctic Survey who led the study.

Krill feed on algae under the ice sheet in the ocean but warmer temperatures over the last 50 years have meant there is less ice and fewer krill.

... more

This may actually be worse news than yesterday's election results.

[AzureWaves]

1. yesterday's election news just makes this news worse

Because Bush won't give a crap about it. He doesn't believe that there is anything wrong with the environment. Everything that is happening is "natural" or caused by "god" as far as he's concerned. I wish he knew how wrong he was. :\

[gottaB]

2. It's of a piece

Republicans are the party of global warming. Bush is neither an environmentalist nor especially attuned to reality. Extinctions are a predictable outcome of an unrestrained Republican agenda.

[livinbella]

3. Here we have some classic irony:

"The report says that the thaw will have some positive side-effects. Oil and gas deposits will be easier to reach"

Man, that does sound bad.

[htuttle]

4. As the krill go, so go we

Krill is close to the 'bottom of the food pyramid' in the oceans. It supports a LOT of species.

We need living oceans in order for the atmosphere to operate properly. We might end up knocking the planet back to the Carboniferous era at this rate.

[funnymanpants]

5. Very, very bad

Neither candidate has come close to addressing the seriousness of our environment.

Must we sit by helpless while we walk off a cliff?

[Flaxbee]

6. I hoped we'd never have to live through mass

extinctions again, I just don't know if I can bear to witness this. And the hopefully God-damned "Christians" who support Shrub don't care that they're supposed to care for the earth and for all of god's creatures, they just wanna get raptured after they decide which shoes will look best in heaven, of course. I loathe, despise, abhor all these fake people who can't see beyond the ends of their noses and do not respect life in its wonderful, myriad forms.

[MsMagnificent]

7. Bye-bye whales

your loss is the Oil industy's gain.


All told, I'd keep the whales and ride a bike.