Marine Conservation.
Guest Speaker: Ms Kelly Ong from underwater world
The three marine animals that will be harmed by global warming mentioned by Ms Kelly Ong are Polar bears, Penguin and Marine Turtles.
Polar Bears
Polar bears, a semi-aquatic marine animal, are one of the many animals that will be the victim of global warming. The death of Polar bears has shed us light on what happened to them. The field scientists from the Antarctica have reporting this never-been-seen-before phenomenon on polar bears. The bears are literally swimming for catch their preys.
Bear used to hunt their prey near the edge of the ice, but today they will have to swim in order to catch their. Due to the rapid rate of ice cap melting today, polar bears are having a lack of hunting ground. Because of that, bears are getting thinner and thinner.
As we know polar bearsÂ’ fur is design for adaptation of the cold weather, it was not design for heat insulting at below zero degree Celsius cold water. Nowadays polar bears are facing a huge crisis for drowning.
The general rise of temperature on Earth due to global warming have caused ice cap and sheet to melt, which means polar bears have less hunting ground to catch their prey.
Penguin
In the recent years, penguin populations have they population decrease linked to climate change. As global warming affects the Earth, it affects the cold regions too. The warmer air and sea temperature have caused the shrinking level of ice. This results in lack of food source for the penguin that feed on the krill.
In addition, of that, the shrinking of sea ice has also caused a decrease in both krill and algae population. Krill feeds on algae that found on the sea ice.
This are the main concerning reason that could explain why the decrease in penguin overall population.
Marine Turtle
The global warming has caused an increase in the temperature that caused the ice cap and ice sheets to melt resulting in an increase of sea level each year. The increase of sea level will destroy low-lying beaches. This will result in less nesting areas of the turtle to lay their eggs and hence affect the population of the marine turtle.
Global warming also affects the ultimate male to female ration because of the temperature. As what I have elaborate in question two, there are strong link between effects of global warming to the marine turtle population.
Temperature has a direct effect on marine turtle population.
Marine turtles actually have many offspring but on contrary, they have very little survivors. As what Ms Kelly Ong has told us, the temperature can determine the sex of the marine turtles. A cooler temperature produces male turtles while a warmer temperature produces female turtles.
The impact of global warming have caused a general increase of temperature, which means that there will be more females turtles because of the warmer temperature condition.
When there are more females, it seriously affected the male to female ratios. When there are many female turtles and are lack of male turtles in the ecosystem, the population of marine turtle will be severely affected because there will not be enough male turtle for reproduction.
Ocean acidification
It is the decrease of pH of the Earth's Ocean. At the rate of current carbon dioxide emission, there will be an adverse impact to the ocean environment.
When carbon dioxide dissolves in water, it forms a carbonic acid. It causes a change in ocean pH balance. The ocean pH will be decrease due to the increasing amount of carbonic acid in ocean.
A decrease of pH in ocean would means coral reef, plankton and organism whose skeleton made of calcium carbonate may be particularly affected. This threatens to endanger the lives of marine organisms, suffering from the effects of increase in acidity in the ocean.
Coral bleaching
It is the loss of color of the coral due to the loss of Zooxanthellae in the algae found the tissues. Zooxanthellae or called “zook” give the coral its particular coloration. When under stress the corals will expel Zooxanthellae, which will lead to lighter or completely white appearance.
Global warming which cause the temperature of the water to increase can be one of the factors causing stress to the coral. When there is a reduced amount of zooplankton due to over fishing, it will result in starvation of corals.
It has huge impact on the marine food chain because many survivors of marine lives depend on the plankton that is at the bottom of the food chain. Food chain is a link, when the bottom ones get affect; it will also affect the ones from the top.
Career as a Marine Biologist
The job scope for a marine biologist in underwater world will include daily husbandry and provide fish diet and treatment. Marine biologist will be also be doing research, design for exhibits, and organize breeding programs. As a marine biologist, they are also required to conduct dive programs.
In order to become a marine biologist with the underwater world, one needs to hold at least a Degree in veterinary, marine biology or a bio-related course. He or she must be also dive certified and physically fit. One must also have knowledge in basic water chemistry. Having prior knowledge in aquarium keeping animal husbandry will give applicants an edge when they apply for this post. The most important thing is to have aptitude passion for fishes and marine mammals.