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58 DISCOVERMAGAZINE.COM

TOP: GAIL ASHTON. BOTTOM: SABRINA HEISER

Ocean Test Plots Reveal

Effects of Warming

❯

TO STUDY GLOBAL

WARMING, one group

of Antarctic researchers

ditched fancy models in favor of

a more hands-on approach: They

heated the ocean themselves.

British Antarctic Survey

scientists placed panels equipped

with heating elements on

the seabed in Antarctica and

warmed the devices by either

1 or 2 degrees Celsius. When the

researchers checked back a few

months later, the effects were

starkly apparent.

A group of small filter-feeding

invertebrates had taken over

on top of the heated panels,

completely shifting the balance

of the tiny test ecosystem. The

scientists’ work, published in

September in Current Biology,

reveals the impact of the

warming predicted to occur over

the next 50 years.

With such a loss of diversity

comes increased sensitivity to

disease and other potential threats,

likely robbing ecosystems of their

resilience. — NATHANIEL SCHARPING

Divers (top) from the Rothera Research

Station in Antarctica monitor heated panels

(above), designed to mimic ocean warming,

on the seabed near Adelaide Island.