Life in the ocean’s “twilight zone” could decline dramatically due to climate change, new research suggests.
Life in the ocean’s “twilight zone” could decline dramatically due to climate change, new research suggests.
The twilight zone (200m to 1,000m deep) gets very little light but is home to a wide variety of organisms and billions of tonnes of organic matter.
The new study warns that climate change could cause a 20-40% reduction in twilight zone life by the end of the century.
And in a high-emissions future, life in the twilight zone could be severely depleted within 150 years, with no recovery for thousands of years.
“We still know relatively little about the ocean twilight zone, but using evidence from the past we can understand what may happen in the future,” said Dr Katherine Crichton, from the University of Exeter, and lead author of the study.
Read more at: University of Exeter
Photo Credit: University of Exeter
