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Global warming: biodiversity threatened in the Mediterranean below 30°C in places
Global warming: biodiversity threatened in the Mediterranean below 30°C in places
(France 2)
Under the deep blue sea, ever-rising water temperatures are raising growing concerns about the survival of many forms of marine life in the area.
On Sunday, August 11, 28.67°C was recorded on the surface of the water in the Mediterranean by the Institute of Marine Sciences (ICM) in Barcelona, once again approaching the record of July 2023, set at 28.71°C. A high temperature, which is not without consequences for biodiversity. Thus, species are threatened, such as sponges, which succumb to diseases contracted due to excessive underwater heat.
“There is no species of sponge (…) that has survived. It was a very dense population that I had been working on for twenty-five years, which was completely exterminated.”notes Thierry Perez, research director at the CNRS, after a dive to see the results of his research into new, more resistant species. In almost thirty years, the temperature in the Mediterranean has increased by up to +1.6°C. So far, waves of marine heat waves have affected more than fifty other species, such as plankton, one of the basic foods of underwater life.
Spanish maritime research center: Institute of Marine Sciences (ICM) of Barcelona. Announcement made on August 13, 2024 to AFP (Agence France Presse) by Justino Martinez, researcher at the Institute of Marine Sciences (ICM) of Barcelona and the Catalan institute ICATMAR.
Study published July 18, 2022 in Global Change Biology (biweekly peer-reviewed scientific journal covering research on the interface between biological systems and all aspects of environmental change)
Scientific studies by Thierry Perez, CNRS Research Director, Deputy Director of the Observatory of Universe Sciences, Pythéas Institute, Mediterranean Institute of Biodiversity and Marine and Continental Ecology
Scientific studies by Daniela Banaru, Lecturer, Mediterranean Institute of Oceanology
Scientific studies by Emna Ben Lamine, researcher at the Côte d’Azur University, CNRS, ECOSEAS laboratory
Scientific studies by Joaquim Garrabou, researcher at the Institute of Marine Sciences of the Spanish National Research Council
The Business Convention for the Climate Provence Corsica
Non-exhaustive list.