From the department of obvious science and anything to do with climate change must be bad comes this study from Australian National University:
Waves costly for fish
Big waves are energetically costly for fish, and there are more big waves than ever. The good news is that fish might be able to adapt.
“There has been a lot of recent work in oceanography documenting the fact that waves are becoming more frequent and more intense due to climate change,” says Mr Dominique Roche, PhD candidate from the Research School of Biology. “The habitats that fish live in are changing.”
“This is not a localised problem, but something that is documented globally,” adds Ms Sandra Binning, also a PhD candidate in the Research School of Biology.
Mr Roche and Ms Binning are co-authors on a study documenting the energy it takes for fish to swim through large, intense waves. Specifically, they focused on fish that swim with their arm, or pectoral fins, which are very common on both rocky and coral reefs.
“By controlling water flow in an experimental chamber with the help of a computer, we were able to replicate oscillations in the water flow like in a wave pool,” explains Mr Roche.
“We looked at how much energy the fish consumed while swimming without waves, in conditions with small waves, and in conditions with large waves. The idea was to compare the amount of energy that fish consume while swimming in these three conditions when their average swimming speed was exactly the same.”
Mr Roche and Ms Binning found that it’s a lot more energetically demanding for fish to deal with large fluctuations in water speed and wave height.
“It’s harder to constantly switch speeds than it is to remain at a constant speed, like a runner changing between running and walking during interval training versus a steady jog. Well, it’s the same for swimming fish,” says Mr Roche.
“Things could get tough for fish in windy, exposed habitats if waves get stronger with changing climate. But there may be a silver lining,” says Ms Binning.
“In the swim chamber, when the water flow increased, fish had to beat their fins faster to keep up. But when the water flow slowed down, some fish took advantage and rode the wave. Essentially, rather than beating their fins frantically, these fish used the momentum that they had gained while speeding up to glide and save energy.
“This means that some individuals are better at dealing with waves than others, and that there is hope for populations to adapt their swimming behavior to potentially changing conditions in the future,” concludes Mr Roche.
Their research was recently published in the Journal of Experimental Biology. View footage of the study species, Cymatogaster aggregata in the swim chamber.
Source: http://news.anu.edu.au/2014/02/03/waves-costly-for-fish/
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Gosh, climate change will cause exhausted fish in the future, because as we all know, fish just can’t adapt to a changing environment; nature so poorly equipped them that something like a change in waves in the ocean will just muck up the whole population, because fish just can’t swim deeper to avoid surface turbulence, or something.
And, because this one species of fish is surely representative of all species and good enough to make a climate change with global ramifications related press release out of. Never mind this fact:
The shiner perch (Cymatogaster aggregata) is a common surfperch found in estuaries, lagoons, and coastal streams along the Pacific coast from Alaska to Baja California. It is the sole member of its genus.
…
They are one of the most common fish in the bays and estuaries of their range, favoring beds of eelgrass, and often accumulating around piers as well. They feed on zooplankton such as copepods, but have been observed to bottom feed as well.
Cuz, well, the bays and estuaries are connected to the ocean, and the ocean has waves, and they are getting bigger. And because, somehow, a bottom fish will be more affected by waves on the surface.
I downloaded the footage of the study species, Cymatogaster aggregata in the swim chamber, and have made it available here:
This is what passes for science now; it looks like a high school science fair project. Note the propeller. What I see is the velocity of water changing due to the propeller, an enclosed box, and no waves, i.e. an unnatural environment. As Willis is often fond of pointing out, an aquarium tank is not the ocean, and behavior of an animal in an artificially controlled setting is no guarantee it models reality, even in the slightest. This doesn’t even look like a good model, because the fish is movement constricted, and can’t change its depth.
I assume they are basing their work on this study, also from Australian National University:
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Global Trends in Wind Speed and Wave Height
Science, Vol. 332 no. 6028 pp. 451-455 DOI: 10.1126/science.1197219
- I. R. Young*, S. Zieger, A. V. Babanin
*To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: ir.young@anu.edu.au
Studies of climate change typically consider measurements or predictions of temperature over extended periods of time. Climate, however, is much more than temperature. Over the oceans, changes in wind speed and the surface gravity waves generated by such winds play an important role. We used a 23-year database of calibrated and validated satellite altimeter measurements to investigate global changes in oceanic wind speed and wave height over this period. We find a general global trend of increasing values of wind speed and, to a lesser degree, wave height, over this period. The rate of increase is greater for extreme events as compared to the mean condition.
Then there’s this little gem in the paper:
That paper is contested on the basis of that table:
http://www.sciencemag.org/content/334/6058/905.2.abstract
Comment on “Global Trends in Wind Speed and Wave Height”
Frank J. Wentz*, Lucrezia Ricciardulli
Young et al. (Reports, 22 April 2011, p. 451) reported trends in global mean wind speed much larger than found by other investigators. Their report fails to reference these other investigations and does not discuss the consequences that such large wind trends would have on global evaporation and precipitation. The difference between their altimeter and buoy trends suggests a relatively large trend error.
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Of course this new paper on waves make fish swim harder [Unsteady flow affects swimming energetics in a labriform fish (Cymatogaster aggregata) ] from ANU is published in the same journal (Journal of Experimental Biology) that says ocean acidification will make damselfish go blind: Ocean acidification will interfere with fish eyes
But what I find most interesting is that the original abstract doesn’t even MENTION climate change:
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Unsteady flow affects swimming energetics in a labriform fish (Cymatogaster aggregata)
Abstract
Unsteady water flows are common in nature, yet the swimming performance of fishes is typically evaluated at constant, steady speeds in the laboratory. We examined how cyclic changes in water flow velocity affect the swimming performance and energetics of a labriform swimmer, the shiner surfperch, Cymatogaster aggregata, during station holding. Using intermittent-flow respirometry, we measured critical swimming speed (Ucrit), oxygen consumption rates (ṀO2) and pectoral fin use in steady flow versus unsteady flows with either low- [0.5 body lengths (BL) s−1] or high-amplitude (1.0 BL s−1) velocity fluctuations, with a 5 s period. Individuals in low-amplitude unsteady flow performed as well as fish in steady flow. However, swimming costs in high-amplitude unsteady flow were on average 25.3% higher than in steady flow and 14.2% higher than estimated values obtained from simulations based on the non-linear relationship between swimming speed and oxygen consumption rate in steady flow. Time-averaged pectoral fin use (fin-beat frequency measured over 300 s) was similar among treatments. However, measures of instantaneous fin use (fin-beat period) and body movement in high-amplitude unsteady flow indicate that individuals with greater variation in the duration of their fin beats were better at holding station and consumed less oxygen than fish with low variation in fin-beat period. These results suggest that the costs of swimming in unsteady flows are context dependent in labriform swimmers, and may be influenced by individual differences in the ability of fishes to adjust their fin beats to the flow environment.
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So, maybe the whole climate change meme is an addition for the purposes of press release, to gain attention, either way, it all seems fishy to me.
“So, maybe the whole climate change meme is an addition for the purposes of press release, to gain attention,..”
Well, in fairness the regular winner of the Webby for Best Science Blog does focus on Climate Change.
It may be a two-way creation process of a social practise.
Instead of putting the fish in a pendaflex file box, and running waves through it; why didn’t these idiots; no they’re not idiots; they’re drongos, go and jump in the ocean with the fish, and see for themselves, just what real fish do in real waves.
I’ve spent hours, with a snorkel sitting in wavy water, and watching the little fishies at work, and play.
And the one thing I can tell you is that fish pay no attention to the waves whatsoever; specifically they do not attempt to swim against the waves. In shore waters, where waves lap up against reefs, or other habitats, as the water flows in, the fish flow in with it; the whole school of them, just waft in on the breeze, and they go about their business, with their frame of reference, namely the water, moving wherever it wants, and they all just go with it. You could put a retro-reflector floating with them, at their depth, and lock in your camera guidance to that reference, and you would see, that the whole scene is independent of the water motion.
In rivers, and streams, predatory fishes like trout, find a quiet spot in an eddy, where they can sit stationary, even with fast stream flows go past, nearby, then they simply dart out and grab what is floating by, and return to their low energy eddy spot.
This paper has to be the biggest pile of fish guano, we’ve seen this century.
I wouldn’t give these “people” a C in a 4-H club animal husbandry, homework assignment.
I once thought of getting myself a PhD in ice-cream making. Maybe, I’ll switch to fish watching instead.
But how about that; who’da thunk that global warming would raise the frequency of waves in water. Well that’s what “more frequent” means isn’t it.
Just take a look at that file folder box with the fish in it. Hard to judge the width of the box, but unless it’s a trick photo, I would say, the fish is longer, than the box width.
Now just how natural do you think it is for a fish; and one that is not a top predator, to sit in a slab of water that it cannot easily turn around in. And even the top predators, need and want to turn on a dime; or else they starve.
The wave wobbled fishes that I have personally observed, carried out all the usual manoeuvers, in their wafting water, just as if the whole thing was stationary.
And good news; in the Fish lab, that I used, it was very easy to repeat the experiments, with the water not moving at all, in fact glassy smooth on the surface. You know, I can’t tell from the movies, which ones had the VR (vibration Reduction (Nikon term)) system turned on and which ones had it turned off in quiet water.
And just in case you are curious; having grown up spending hours and hours swimming in the oceans, in quite intense wave conditions, as well as wave-less conditions, and having transitioned to scuba diving, where I can do the same thing at some depth, when I am meandering around near the bottom or reefs, and rocks, I too pay no attention whatsoever to the waviness or wafting of the water. I’m exceedingly comfortable to simply let the water take me where it will, and I waste no energy, or extra air, concerning myself with the waves.
Neither do real fish !!
This is one for the age of silliness.
Well I see they are Australians; gotta make allowances.
If ever there was a resilient and adaptive fish then this is your baby. They can live in fresh or salty water, give birth to well developed ‘live’ young, live for up to 8 years, dive as deep as 61m etc. What the heck can a few alleged higher waves cause this resilient and abundant fish?
http://www.aquariumofpacific.org/onlinelearningcenter/species/shiner_surfperch
Do the scientists know the difference between currents and waves?
More work, means more muscles, which mean bigger fish! To feed more people!
It’s called the funding angle. There are hundreds of millions of US dollars available every year for studying climate batshit. Please tell WUWT where it can gain access to some of these ‘climate change’ funds? (See the right side bar of this page)
Just shoot me now.
Does this show that even PhD candidates have the memory of a gold fish?
1) We used a 23-year database of calibrated and validated satellite altimeter measurements to investigate global changes in oceanic wind speed and wave height over this period.
2) We have no observable difference between monthly height waves over the decades.
3) Future climate will cause bigger waves and fish to swim harder.
Typical alarmist paper blaming the religion with no science to back it up again.
4) Despite warming global temperatures until the last strong El Nino there has been no difference in trend with wave heights.
5) Climate change to cause no trend in wave heights..
6) Why bother.
Number 3) was very opinionated and classed as pseudoscience.
Look at the warmest regions of the world with the strongest winds? Now look at the coldest places on Earth with calm like conditions? Antarctica must be one of the calmest places on Earth if warmer climate causes stronger winds.
Oops, what went wrong…….
ANTARCTICA IS THE COLDEST, HIGHEST, DRIEST, WINDIEST PLACE ON EARTH!
http://karmak.org/archive/2003/08/UMHandout.Info.html
“The lowest mean speeds are largely confined to tropical forest climates in South America, Africa, and southeastern Asia; and to mesothermal forest climates over the rugged terrain flanking the Tibetan Plateau”
A cooler planet causes stronger winds, due to the jet streams are strengthened with colder air towards the poles. It becomes common now in climate science that alarmist claims are usually opposite to real observations.
“Ridiculous!”
Poof! Scientist shrivels, falls back into the box and the lid closes.
Jimbo, I agree it’s follow the money. But getting to the front of the queue with the begging bowl requires your name to be known. Getting onto the popular science media radar is a good way to get noticed.
Climate change isn’t the only source of cash. Waves could be funded by the Navy, for instance.
But only Climate Change will get into the popular science media, of which I include WUWT.
But yes, ultimately, it is all about the money.
Bird got to fly. Fish got to swim. Scientist got keep on earning funding.
John B., M.D. says:
“Do the scientists know the difference between currents and waves?”
LOL! Apparently not.
These are not climate experts doing the fish experiment, they are biologists studying fish biology. That they have to plead “climate change” in order to get their funding to do fish biology is no fault of theirs, but it is the funding environment they work in. They may or may not have the expertise to evaluate climate change papers, they may or may not actually believe in asserted effects of climate change, they may or may not care about climate change. They are biologists, not climatologists, What interests them is fish. I will not fault them for pleading what they have to plead in the current academic/political environment in order to study fish.
You find the pleadings of climate change, excessive? Editorialize about the funding environment.
The study itself may be excessively simple. It probably is. Is it something that has been studied in detail before? I suspect not, the biologists would know better than I do, and I have no interest in getting up to speed on the current state of the study of fish physiology. If it had been done many times before, the results would not be published now, as they would be old news.
Before one can study fish in three dimensions in an open ocean environment, the techniques of measuring the physiology of what the fish do have to be developed. That can only be done in a simplified, controlled environment, like this one, and adding variables one by one as techniques are developed. To find out how to do the complicated stuff, simple stuff has to be done first. This is some of the simple stuff that has to be done first. Unless you are fully versed in the study and measurement of fish physiology, lay off the criticism of this study. Don’t criticize science because it is not yet perfect.
george e. smith says:
February 5, 2014 at 11:15 am
I look forward to seeing your measurements of the respiration rates and other physiological measurements on those fish.
All this fish talk- just had to go check the area lakes fishing report. No good news.
Signed: Sick O’Winter
Oceanic terror on the rise! It’s all your fault; repent now!
The NZ Herald had an amusing ‘scary wave’ / climate change article this week.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11195493
john robertson says: @ur momisugly February 5, 2014 at 8:55 am
… It is frightening when any random surfer, understands a subject better than a government scientist.
Best case for more funding cuts.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
AMEN!
Good note to send to your Congress Critter or Parliamentary Prat.
george e. smith says:
February 5, 2014 at 11:15 am
Thanks for that. I’ve seen marine aquariums that model the reality of a reef better than that experiment did, complete with wave surges and tidal changes. Australia has some of the best diving in the world and they apparently ignored the opportunity in favor of not getting wet.
@mwhite
In a wave, fluid particles revolve around a point. The shape of that movement depends on the water depth and impact the bottom has on the wave. In very deep water the motion is circular. The motion is never limited to up and down only. The motions can be fully described with equations. The equations applicable to deep water covered in under graduate fluid mechanics courses. Shallow water wave equations a harder and are a graduate level and beyond, and are often not solvable. Interestingly those equations are similar to the equations used in climate modelling.
Humans are supposed to know exactly what the level of everything is on this planet, which matches ideally with requirements of each creature. This has been defined as a level in our recent modern day past from which we should never diverge from………… even if for brief periods.
All geological, climate and weather records no longer matter and steps are to be taken to minimize their importance because humans have acquired the power to control our planet and make it perfect for every creature.
This means that we know the correct global temperature, carbon dioxide levels, ocean levels, ice amounts and where that ice should be. If any of these levels change, it’s our job to reset them back to where we have decided they should always stay.
This also includes things like wave size, changes in regional weather, changes of any sort in populations of creatures.
Evolution and adaptation are no longer needed because humans will turn the control knob of everything to unchanged.
Then, all creatures can live in harmony together on our planet exactly the way they were when we decided that exact moment in time was the perfect match for everything.
CaligulaJones says:
February 5, 2014 at 10:14 am
____________________________
This interview was only a couple of years ago, but Hans Fricke is the “coelacanth guy”.
Sure enough, looks like he was grant- seeking: “if the water temp goes up 10 degrees…”
http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2011/05/hans-fricke/
WOW!! Not only have they included a reference to climate change, they used a computer. Does this increase the validity of the ‘study’.
Mr Dominique Roche, PhD candidate from the Research School of Biology. “
Ms Sandra Binning, also a PhD candidate in the Research School of Biology.
Mr Roche and Ms Binning are co-authors on a study documenting the energy it takes for fish to swim through large, intense waves.
They are, I mean were, candidates for a PhD,
I have experimental evidence that supports this paper. The most extreme waves are of course surf. If fish have difficulty with just waves, then they would find surf pretty well impossible. If the paper’s underlying hypothesis is correct then there would be no or very few fish in surf. I went surf fishing once, and I didn’t catch any. Now I know why.
Alan Robertson says:
February 5, 2014 at 12:00 pm
All this fish talk- just had to go check the area lakes fishing report. No good news.
Signed: Sick O’Winter
Cheer up! Get yourself a little ice fishing house and one of those tiny rods.
TRG says:
February 5, 2014 at 10:55 am
Maybe the fish need little bicycles…
~ ~ ~
Priceless!