From the “CO2 is the most deadly omnipotent force in the Universe department”, comes this tragic story of poor Nemo the clownfish, so disoriented by CO2 that he can’t choose the right path to swim. Rebuttal(s) follow in subsequent posts, but first here is the story on the research from James Cook University. Original press release here, ABC news story below. Look for a Disney/Pixar sequel soon, sure to frighten the children. – Anthony
Rising CO2 may lead Nemo to danger
By Katherine Nightingale for ABC Science Online
Global warming could have an unexpected effect on the clownfish star of Finding Nemo and his kind, by making them indulge in risky behaviour, say researchers.
Previous research indicates that as carbon dioxide (CO2) levels in the atmosphere climb the surface water of the oceans could become acidic.
Scientists have already shown that this acidification interferes with fish larvae’s sense of smell and ability to find a suitable home.
Now research led by marine researcher Professor Philip Munday of James Cook University (JCU) has found it could also make fish less aware of – and even attracted to – predators.
They publish their research this week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences journal.
As part of the study, the researchers put clownfish and damselfish larvae into seawater equivalent to that which would be found if the atmosphere contained 700 ppm and 850 ppm of CO2 – levels that could be reached by the end of the century.
They found that after four days, half of the larvae in the 700 ppm group were less able to detect the smell of a predator, while all the larvae in 850 ppm group were actually attracted to the predator scent.
Damselfish larvae that were then released onto a reef were more active and behaved more boldly than normal, spending less time near shelter and more time near predators. They were also five to nine times more likely to die than normal fish born in 390 ppm conditions.
Profound implications
The results suggest this could have a huge impact on ocean biodiversity.
“Being attracted to the smell of a predator isn’t likely to be a very good thing,” Mr Munday said.
Professor David Booth, a marine ecologist at the University of Technology Sydney who was not involved in the study, says the behavioural choices made by young fish are thought to strongly affect populations.
“This finding of negative effects on such choices could have profound implications for the dynamics of fish populations,” he said.
The researchers are now trying to pin down why acidification causes the fish to behave more boldly, as well as looking at the wider effects on population balance in reef ecosystems.
Mr Munday says, for example, different species could have different tolerances, and acidification could make predators more or less inclined to eat.
Professor Geoffrey Jones, also of JCU and the ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies, said the research took the level of concern about the effects of climate change on coral reef fish “to a whole new level”.
“Without drastic action to cut emissions, all we can do is hope that fish will be able to adapt,” Mr Jones said.
“However, given that the rate of CO2 increase is unprecedented, there are no grounds for optimism.”
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Gosh, look at this, CO2 (confirmed by sampling and analysis) bubbling right out of the sea floor next to healthy reef corals. More on this later.
Ocean acidification looks like the new reason to stop carbon emissions.
KIDS! Repeat after me:
Talking Clown Fish DO NOT EXIST! So, pushing your agenda by using an imaginary fish to appeal to my emotions WILL NOT WORK!
Jose
Nemo has a bigger following than polar bears, it appears. If they can only figure out how AGW is killing Miley Cirus, they could get the tween voters firmly on their side.
Now research led by marine researcher Professor Philip Munday of James Cook University (JCU) has found it could also make fish less aware of – and even attracted to – predators.
So somehow the predators who live in the same environment are not affected. How does that work?
Prof Munday I’ll give you a government grant just to shut the f** up.
Let me see. The solubility of CO2 in brine decreases with temperature. So now what is it? Are the oceans getting colder because global cooling is setting in. Or are they getting warmer and thus less able to dissolve CO2 in them. The only clownfish around was Mr. Munday.
Science Fair material at best: “let’s see what happens when we juice up the CO2!” Then make unwarranted conclusions on false premises… yeah, that’s the ticket.
“Being attracted to the smell of a predator isn’t likely to be a very good thing,” Mr Munday said.
Speaking of smells, judging from this news release, this Alarmist “study” reeks of
confirmation bias. C02 was “guilty as charged” before they even started. The only thing they needed to “find” was how it was guilty, to what extent, and of course how “bad” it will be if man doesn’t stop his evil habit of, well LIVING.
CAGW/CC government-sponsored, further-funding- needed psyience at its best, unfortunately.
Ia this another Dr. Feelgood production from Hollywood? (soon to be Bollywood)?
“James Cook University (JCU)” …..Is that the explorer Cook? Who was attracted to some islands, and got killed?
Hang on. Didn’t the plot of Nemo include this twist already?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Finding_Nemo
Let me tell a story that may be vaguely relevant. Several decades ago I bought a house in Bulawayo (in Rhodesia in those days) which came with a large ornamental pond with a couple of dozen fan-tailed goldfish. My wife and I were very proud of the rather flamboyant fish, but the frogs that came with the pond kept us awake at night. I sought the advice of several uninformed friends who were of no help. Then one day I mentioned it to an old Afrikaans farmer who advised me to put salt in the pond. I considered the matter and decided that before going to that extreme I should telephone a brother-in-law (now long passed on) who lived some hundreds of kilometers to the north. He was a retired veterinary professor and his blessing seemed desirable. He said “No Ken, don’t do that, if you put in enough salt to get rid of the frogs you will kill the fish.” Not wanting to kill the fish despite the sleep disturbance I let matters be. Then one day I bumped into my farming acquaintance and told him of
my brother-in-law’s contrary advice. “Ag man ” said Koos the farmer, “professors read books, they don’t know practical stuff. Put salt in, put plenty salt. The frogs they won’t like it and they’ll go away. The fish, who knows whether they like it, but the fish got nowhere to go. He will adapt.”
After double handfuls of salt applied on three or four evenings, the frogs were gone. The fish – he adapted, and when I came to part with the house some years later, the fish were still thriving.
Ocean pH, particularly that of shallow water over reefs, varies widely by time of day and by tide. If clown fish can survive the range in pH of a day on a reef, they can survive the tiny variation that a doubling of atmospheric CO2 would cause.
Wow is this press release ridiculous!!!!
“Every time we start a car or turn on the light part of the resulting CO2 is absorbed by the oceans, turning them slightly more acidic. Ocean pH has already declined by 0.1 unit and could fall a further 0.3-0.4 of a unit if we continue to emit CO2 at our present increasing rate.
He forgot to mention that God kills a kitten too. A 0.1 drop in pH is nothing in the historical context. I encourage everyone to read this from the Science and Public Policy Institute – Effects of Ocean Acidification on Marine Ecosystems
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“We already know this will have an adverse effect on corals, shellfish, plankton and other organisms with calcified skeletons. Now we are starting to find it could affect other marine life, such as fish.”
Again, more blatant lies. More studies have been done which show that a less-basic ocean (please, lets stop using the term “acidification” when the pH remains > 7) actually promotes shell growth. Again see link above and its many peer reviewed references on the matter.
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“Earlier research by Professor Munday and colleagues found that baby ‘Nemo’ clownfish were unable to find their way back to their home reef under more acidic conditions. The latest experiments cover a wider range of fish species and show that acidified sea water produces dangerous changes in fish behaviour.”
So lets just throw the fish into an unknown habitat in conditions they are not used to and see how they react and go with those conclusions…rather than let them adapt naturally over time.
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“If humanity keeps on burning coal and oil at current rates, atmospheric CO2 levels will be 750-1000 parts per million by the end of the century. This will acidify the seas much faster than has happened at any stage in the last 650,000 years.”
Again, acidify? So dropping the pH from 7.9 to 7.5 is acidifying the ocean? I know certain NOAA personnel like to drop chalk into vinegar to demonstrate what we are doing to the oceans, but this is nothing but pure alarmism and being untruthful and non scientific.
“They were also five to nine times more likely to die than normal fish born in 390 ppm conditions.”
OMG! Since clownfish can lay thousands of eggs and their population is fairly constant that means that 99.8% plus of clownfish die before breeding. If you increase that by five to nine times that means that their studies showed that between 499.5% and 899.1% of the eggs died.
We are doomed!
If you look at this by example, it’s pretty obvious that rising CO2 levels have driven a large number of otherwise “sane” politicians and scientists to “madness.”
Why not the same with clownfish ?
CO2 makes clown fish turn only right. They lose their ability to turn left, making them vulnerable to shuriken attacks.
I am no Monarchist but the Queen of England doesn’t produce the content of her own speeches. She reads whatever the UK Government of the day approves for her to read and sticks entirely to the script especially on big set piece occasions like an address to the UN.
So if she says things that sound dumb it’s not necessarily her fault, blame the Pols. She may believe what she’s told to say and she may not, she’d never say either way.
Now Prince Charles is another matter, as heir to the throne he’s not as tightly bound by protocol so he has a lot more leeway to use his own judgement, or lack thereof, in making his pronouncements.
Had to laugh, the Google ad above the comments link was for “Dry Ice Blasing Services”, Nationwide On-site Heavy Industrial Dry Ice Blast Svcs – EnviroFriendly link didn’t work, but I assume they are using dry ice bits for sand/cornhusk-blasting alternatives. Dry ice would be a good alternative as there is no residue from the blasting material, but the irony of placement of the ad is rich.
I’d like to see the physics of Doom on Carbon Dioxide. It must be leaking into our Universe from an Evil Counterpart Universe. It’s killing everything.
I think fishes really smelled the “professors” scent. Who knows? maybe they are denialists too.☺
Gotto go to the US and buy some Universities in exchange for some false jewels, mirror pieces and nice collars I have.
“Bohngo, Bohngo, great professor magician only say wise things”
Just can’t believe how deep you have fallen down, my once all powerful americans!!
In poker terminology, a “fish” is someone who donates to the game–i.e, doesn’t understand and is easily taken in. According to my Webster dictionary, a “clown” is “2. a joker or buffoon, jester”, and “6. to act like a clown”. In the press release, it’s easy to identify the “clown fish”. I believe the predators mentioned in the release are the blogosphere skeptics. I agree that the “clown fish” are becoming disoriented, but I’m not sure it’s the fault of CO2. It might be caused by decreasing funding.
Enneagram says:
July 8, 2010 at 8:06 am
“[…] Just can’t believe how deep you have fallen down, my once all powerful americans!!”
They had bogus science and snake oil salesmen through all history, they just manage to weed out the chaff after a while. Always ranges from funny to painful to watch.
“pablo an ex pat says:
July 8, 2010 at 7:33 am
I am no Monarchist but the Queen of England doesn’t produce the content of her own speeches. She reads whatever the UK Government of the day approves for her to read and sticks entirely to the script especially on big set piece occasions like an address to the UN.
So if she says things that sound dumb it’s not necessarily her fault, blame the Pols. She may believe what she’s told to say and she may not, she’d never say either way.
Now Prince Charles is another matter, as heir to the throne he’s not as tightly bound by protocol so he has a lot more leeway to use his own judgement, or lack thereof, in making his pronouncements.”
PC will never hold the throne, it isn’t “popular” with the idiotic British public.
“They found that after four days, half of the larvae in the 700 ppm group were less able to detect the smell of a predator, while all the larvae in 850 ppm group were actually attracted to the predator scent.”
This is 100% BS
If, could, might, perhaps…
With this kind of certainty, I’d rather be sitting on a warm, sunny beach.