LONDON: Ecosystem recovery from climate change and seawater deoxygenation can take thousands of years, according to a study led by Dr Sarah Moffitt from the University of California.
The researchers analysed more than 5,400 invertebrate fossils, from sea urchins to clams, within a sediment core from offshore Santa Barbara, California.
The revolutionary study explored multicellular life rather than single-celled organisms, in pursuit of a more complete picture of ocean ecosystem resilience, and is published in the journal PNAS.
“In this study, we used the past to forecast the future,” said Dr Peter Roopnarine, from the California Academy of Sciences, who also worked on the study.
“Tracing changes in marine biodiversity during historical episodes of warming and cooling tells us what might happen in years to come.
“We don’t want to hear that ecosystems need thousands of years to recover from disruption, but it’s critical that we understand the global need to combat modern climate impacts.”
The tube-like sediment core is a slice of ocean life as it existed between 3,400 and 16,100 years ago, and provides a before-and-after snapshot of what happened during the last major deglaciation, a time of abrupt climate warming, melting polar ice caps, and expansion of low oxygen zones in the ocean.
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