Global Warming Shrinks Marine Wildlife

A team of scientists working with the University of London and the University of Liverpool have recently made it public news that, as a result of the predicted increase in global average temperatures, we should expect to see a decrease in the adult size of numerous marine animals.

Apparently, the animals living on land will also get smaller, yet marine wildlife is expected to shrink ten times more than the species not residing in aquatic environments, Eurek Alert says. 

The most reasonable explanation for this status quo is that the estimated increase in global average temperatures will also up the oxygen needs of living organisms.

Unlike terrestrial species, marine animals will be forced to cut down on their size so as to make sure that the oxygen supply and the oxygen demand are well balanced.

“Aquatic animals shrink 10 times more than land-dwellers in species the size of large insects or small fish,” specialist Andrew Hirst from the University of London's School of Biological and Chemical Sciences explains.

Furthermore, “While animals in water decrease in size by 5 percent for every degree Celsius of warming, similarly sized species on land shrink, on average, by just half percept.”