The diet quality of fish across large parts of the world’s oceans could decline by up to 10 per cent as climate change impacts an integral part of marine food chains, a major study has found.
The diet quality of fish across large parts of the world’s oceans could decline by up to 10 per cent as climate change impacts an integral part of marine food chains, a major study has found.
QUT School of Mathematical Sciences researcher Dr Ryan Heneghan led the study published in Nature Climate Change that included researchers from the University of Queensland, University of Tasmania, University of NSW and CSIRO.
They modelled the impact of climate change on zooplankton, an abundant and extremely diverse group of microscopic animals accounting for about 40 per cent of the world’s marine biomass.
Zooplankton are the primary link between phytoplankton—which convert sunlight and nutrients into energy like plants do on land—and fish. Zooplankton include groups such as Antarctic krill—a major food source for whales—and even jellyfish.
Read more at Queensland University of Technology
Image: Euchaeta marina (Calanoid Copepod). (Credit: Julian Uribe-Palomino IMOS-CSIRO)
