Ocean warming responsibility on acidification on marine fish and shellfish

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Climate change and global warming are the ecological plague of our era. With devastating effects on ecosystems, flora and fauna. The warming of ocean waters is also responsible for acidification processes, which would also affect marine organisms.

Researchers from the Combined effects of ocean warming and acidification on marine fish and shellfish: A molecule to ecosystem perspective study, published on The Science of the total environment study, clarified their research findings.

The explain: "It is expected that by 2050 human population will exceed nine billion leading to increased pressure on marine ecosystems. Therefore, it is conjectured various levels of ecosystem functioning starting from individual to population-level, species distribution, food webs and trophic interaction dynamics will be severely jeopardized in coming decades.

Ocean warming and acidification are two prime threats to marine biota, yet studies about their cumulative effect on marine fish and shellfishes are still in its infancy. This review assesses existing information regarding the interactive effects of global environmental factors like warming and acidification in the perspective of marine capture fisheries and aquaculture industry.

As climate change continues, distribution pattern of species is likely to be altered which will impact fisheries and fishing patterns. Our work is an attempt to compile the existing literatures in the biological perspective of the above-mentioned stress ors and accentuate a clear outline of knowledge in this subject.

We reviewed studies deciphering the biological consequences of warming and acidification on fish and shellfishes in the light of a molecule to ecosystem perspective. Here, for the first time impacts of these two global environmental drivers are discussed in a holistic manner taking into account growth, survival, behavioral response, prey predator dynamics, calcification, biomineralization, reproduction, physiology, thermal tolerance, molecular level responses as well as immune system and disease susceptibility.

We suggest urgent focus on more robust, long term, comprehensive and ecologically realistic studies that will significantly contribute to the understanding of organism's response to climate change for sustainable capture fisheries and aquaculture."