A new study found that a species of marine algae learned to evolve fast enough to cope with climate change, such as acidification and increased temperatures.
Scientists from the GEOMAR Helmholtz-Center for Ocean Research looked at samples of Emiliania huxleyi phytoplankton collected from 15 degrees C of water from the coast of Norway. Researchers found that these algae may be more resilient than thought to rising temperatures and acidification.
"Evolutionary processes need to be considered when predicting the effects of a warming and acidifying ocean on phytoplankton," the study authors wrote.
The algae shrink in size as the temperature rises. It also tends to grow faster and survive for a year, creating larger algae masses. Scientists also believe that this adaptive capability is not unique to the algae. Other marine creatures, such as coral reefs and sea urchins, possess the same ability.
"What we don't know is how far these mechanisms will go. I suspect personally that they will not solve the future climate problem because climate is changing far too fast," Stephen Palumbi, a biology professor at Stanford University, told Reuters.
Researchers clarified that their findings were limited to algae only, and were tested in healthy waters with no predators. The study did not focus on the severity of climate change, but rather on how larger marine animals will be affected by the phenomenon because of their slow evolution compared to smaller marine species.
The International Programme on the State of the Ocean (IPSO) stated last year that the global oceans have become more acidic compared to 300 million years ago. Researchers warned that acidification could lead to extinction of other species, such as the Antarctic krill and the shellfish.
"We are entering an unknown territory of marine ecosystem change, and exposing organisms to intolerable evolutionary pressure," the report stated. "The next mass extinction may have already begun."
Further details of the study were published in the Sept.15 issue of Nature Climate Change.
