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High-Energy Jumbo Squid at Risk With Warming

Emily Sohn, Discovery News

When the animals faced levels of CO2 projected for the end of the century, the study showed, their metabolism slowed by 30 percent. They also became 45 percent less active. Elevated temperatures exacerbated these effects.

As water temperatures and CO2 levels rise, Rosa predicts, jumbo squid will grow more lethargic, making it harder for them to catch prey and escape from predators. Their habitat range will also become compressed. Results appear in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

The new work might help explain why Humboldt squid, once only found in tropical waters, are now showing up as far north as Alaska and British Columbia.

"I had always thought of this species as being one of the most adaptable in the ocean," said Ron O'Dor, senior scientist at the Census of Marine Life in Washington, D.C. "Now we are seeing that is being squeezed in ways no one had really appreciated."

More surprises will probably follow.

"Nothing in the ocean is safe from the impacts of global warming and acidification," O'Dor added. "Everything is going to have to make adjustments."

Related Links:

Project Earth

U.N. Conference on Climate Change