From the Queen Mary, University of London , there was shrinkage, of plankton no less. I’m sure it’s easy to extrapolate that right up to the top of the food chain.
How global warming could cause animals to shrink
The way in which global warming causes many of the world’s organisms to shrink has been revealed by new research from Queen Mary, University of London.
Almost all cold-blooded organisms are affected by a phenomenon known as the ‘temperature-size rule’, which describes how individuals of the same species reach a smaller adult size when reared at warmer temperatures. But until now, scientists have not fully understood how these size changes take place.
Writing in the journal The American Naturalist, Dr Andrew Hirst and colleagues from Queen Mary’s School of Biological and Chemical Sciences explore this unusual shrinking effect in more detail, and show conclusively how it occurs.
Funded by the Natural Environment Research Council, the study was carried out using data on marine planktonic copepods. These tiny crustaceans are the main animal plankton in the world’s oceans and are important grazers of smaller plankton and a food source for larger fish, birds and marine mammals.
By gathering together more than 40 years of research studying the effect of temperature on these organisms, their results show that growth rate (how fast mass is accumulated) and development rate (how fast an individual passes through its life stages) are consistently decoupled in a range of species, with development being more sensitive to temperature than growth.
Dr Hirst explains: “We’ve shown that growth and development increase at different rates as temperatures warm. The consequences are that at warmer temperatures a species grows faster but matures even faster still, resulting in them achieving a smaller adult size.
“Decoupling of these rates could have important consequences for individual species and ecosystems,” he added.
The team’s findings suggest that rates fundamental to all organisms (such as mortality, reproduction and feeding), may not change in synch with one another in a warming world. This could have profound implications for understanding how organisms work, and impact on entire food webs and the world’s ecosystems.
Although the team’s findings disagree with earlier assertions of many macro-ecologists, they clearly explain the smaller sizes associated with the ‘temperature-size rule’. They hope their work will help those investigating the potential impacts of climate change on the natural world.
Discover more from Watts Up With That?
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
I love what is for all intents and purposes, the disclaimer.
“The team’s findings suggest that rates fundamental to all organisms (such as mortality, reproduction and feeding), may not change in synch with one another in a warming world.”
So in other words, you’ll probably be dead long before you can totally disprove this paper as the potential future timeline is infinite.
Cold blooded crocodilians are no different in size now, than they were in the pre-industrial 1700s, 2000 years ago or even 10,000 years ago. In fact, present day crocodilians are largely no different in size than the majority of prehistoric species last seen 65 million years ago prior to the great extinction. Similarly, the majority of species of the warm blooded Mammoth were no bigger than than modern day Elephants. Far differing climates, different methods of thermoregulation, no difference in size. There are far too many variables involved with evolution than to simply claim X will happen because of Y.
Though I do expect some asshat to come up with a paper claiming that crocs are getting bigger as evidenced by the recently captured 23 foot long named ‘Lolong’ in the Philipines, with a claim it is (quite obviously) down to anthropogenic global warming/climate disruption/random new PR term of the month.
I suggest they should be looking in peleobiological records for fossiled plankton, one of the first lifeforms on Earth over a far greater extended timeline period than the usual 40 year period used to come up with the typical alarmist claims. Prehistoric oceans flourished with not only warmer water but with larger co2 concentrations in the atmosphere. By ignoring the past, how can you honestly predict the future? In a simple answer, you can’t.
I’ll make my own alarmist claim. If the temperature of the oceans reaches 100 degrees celcius, plankton will become extinct. However, given the amount of time it would take for them to reach that temperature plankton may well have evolved and not become extinct. But we’ll all be dead so there will be nobody to verify or disprove the claim either way. But thanks for the grant money.
Do Researchers Become Bigger with Increases in Global Temperatures? GRL, Morano, M. and Watts, A.; October 2011 pp 11-78.
Researchers from the the University of East Anglia have modelled the size of prominent CAGW scientists and found a striking correlation of their girth to the increasing temperature of the Earth. “It appears”, yesterday’s press release says, “that as the temperature of the Earth increases, research grants into the study of temperature impact on the world’s biosphere have become disproportionately larger through time. As a result, a diversion of study funding has occurred, resulting in a transfer of data collection costs to those associated with the researchers’ food and drink. This problem is particularly true, it is noted, for the senior researcher or lead author, traditionally the one who exerts the least effort for the most credit, and in the process has more time, and now money, for eating and drinking, while becoming physically more sedentary .”
Geo-scientists contacted about this finding expressed concern that future meetings on Climate Change as happened in Copenhagen in 2009 could result in earthquakes and volcanic activity as the concentrated mass of Climate Change scientists distort the Earth’s crust and precipitate tectonic plate adjustments. Skeptics within the warmist community are casting doubts about the “Fat Funding Facts” theory, as it is becoming known, but recent photographs of the guru of the Global Climate Change movement, Al Gore, show disturbing evidence supportive of the this latest side-effect (sic) of anthropogenically created CO2,
From the article:
“Almost all cold-blooded organisms are affected by a phenomenon known as the ‘temperature-size rule’, which describes how individuals of the same species reach a smaller adult size when reared at warmer temperatures.”
The important qualification in this statement is, “of the same species.” So, the remarks about dinosaurs and allusions thereto, from our usually brilliant commentators, are essentially red herrings. Pardon the mixed metaphor.
Yes, the article does mention climate change, in passing. BFD. If you’re serious about getting your stuff published, that’s almost de rigueur these days. I don’t believe in guilt by association. The authors did NOT say that their research is living proof for the existence of the Flying CO2 Monster.
From my skeptic’s perspective, the copepod research, while not Earth-shattering, is mostly good science.
For copepods such as Calanus finmachicus it is not temperature per se that determines growth but critically the availability of food particles in the crucial early days of life. Any observed effect of temperature on growth rate and final size must be acting via an effect on the nature and spatial density in the water column of suitable food particles (microplankton, such as cilicates) in those crucial first days after hatching.
Larry Fields says:
September 29, 2011 at 10:23 pm
“So, the remarks about dinosaurs and allusions thereto, from our usually brilliant commentators, are essentially red herrings. Pardon the mixed metaphor.”
It might be that the amount of red herrings might be the only species that actually grows when the temperature change a degree or so.
“But until now”, I read, “scientists have not fully understood how these size changes take place.”
R Babcock says on September 27, 2011 at 10:26 am:
“From earlier Seinfeld episodes, I thought just the opposite. Shrinkage occurs in colder waters.”
Yes, a pesky problem for us boys, but brilliant as far as the girls are concerned!
However I, – as a world famous scientist on this matter, ok, ok – so the study of the opposite sex is/or may be – a hobby, not a science – I can only confirm that as far as we can tell, at the moment, the situation is that the warming has expanded the eyes of “these particular planktons’” predators.
These predators are now, due to their better eye sight, having an increased probability of making a meal out of the older generation thus leaving the “smaller youngsters” at home for us scientists to study.