Green Prophet: Loss of tuna, sharks could cause ocean's ecosystem collapse


Photo Credit: Green Prophet

The loss of ocean predators such as Bluefin Tuna, which were given insufficient protection at a last year’s International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tuna (ICCAT), and sharks – like those poached by Yemeni fishermen in the Red Sea – could very well end up in total collapse.

This news comes from research compiled by Brown University and the University of Washington, which reveals for the first time, with certainty, that past mass extinctions were caused by the depletion of “ecological redundancy.” And in the past, it took 10 million years for those ecosystems to recover.By studying carbon isotopes and a 50 million year fossil record, Jessica Whiteside and Peter Ward were able to determine that past mass extinctions were attributed to the loss of species variety in marine ecosystems.

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Posted by WILDNEWJERSEY at 1/30/2011 7:00 AM
Categories: Conservation
Tags: Ocean biodiversity conservation bluefin tuna sharks mass extinctions marine ecosystems
 

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