Posted on 07/13/2008 9:53:36 AM PDT by LibWhacker
Experts on invertebrates have expressed "profound shock" over a government report showing a decline in zooplankton of more than 70% since the 1960s.
The tiny animals are an important food for fish, mammals and crustaceans.
Figures contained in the Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) document, Marine Programme Plan, suggested a fall in abundance.
Charity Buglife said it could be a "biodiversity disaster of enormous proportions".
They said it could have implications for creatures all the way up the food chain, from sand eels to the seabirds, such as puffin, which feed on the fish.
Defra described the Marine Programme Plan as one of the department's high impact programmes, reporting directly to the Defra board and used to guide policy.
Buglife director Matt Shardlow has written to Rodney Anderson, director of marine and fisheries at Defra, praising the level of information in the document but also expressing the organisation's serious concerns.
In his letter, seen by the BBC Scotland news website, Mr Shardlow said: "The disappearance of butterflies, moth, bees, riverflies and other small animals is an environmental tragedy.
"But, despite this experience, we were profoundly shocked to read that zooplankton abundance has declined by about 73% since 1960 and about 50% since 1990.
"This is a biodiversity disaster of enormous proportions."
A graph shown in the report charts a steady decline in zooplankton from 1990 to 2006.
Buglife Scottish officer, Craig Macadam, said climate change could be a factor.
He said: "Zooplankton is the basis of many food chains in the marine environment.
"Without them it is going to cause problems further up the chain."
Read it as:
"The charity 'Buglife' . . ."
And the road-construction term "macadam" is named after a person with the family name, "McAdam" or "MacAdam" (specifically, "John Loudon McAdam," not to be confused with Senator John Loudon)...but "Macadam" is also a name common in Scotland. Note that "tarmac" is from "tar-bound macadam," not an invention of Dr. MacTar. :-)
Tuna are not plankton eaters. They eat big stuff like lobsters, crabs, shrimps, and barnacles. clams, snails, oysters and mussels, and even each other.
not that I agree with one second of man made global warming hysteria.
Let’s sue the Sun.
Oh, my word!!! The tuna fish have eaten everything.
The funny thing is that zooplankton is a great “vitamin supplement” and when grown on fish farms, the effluent “recharges” the sea. Man can actually stimulate the growth of zooplankton relatively easily.
I believe there have been several artciles recently about similar phenomenon off the West Coast. Let’s see if I can capture the jist from memory. The Pacific decadal oscillation (El Nino and La Nina) drive weather and the upwelling of phytoplankton. This is what feeds fish like salmon. When too many rise and the surface water is warm, like algae, they can deplete the water in a local area of oxygen causing dead zones of no life, such as have arisen off the Oregon Coast. Upwelling patterns also drive salmon populations. They have a general rythm in the oscillation so that when Alaska populations are high, lower west coast populations tend to be low and vice versa. What is happening now is unusual. It effected the Klamath runs in past years, now it seems to be effecting the Sacramento runs. (The fishermen would have you believe it is all inland issues because they are agenda driven to change water management, land use practices and dams.) So it is not just Scotland. I think Norway may also be experiencing it and there have been articles on that.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.