News

Climate Change In Arctic Might Drive Shifts in Marine Mammals' Life Patterns

By R. Siva Kumar | Update Date: Dec 15, 2015 09:28 AM EST

Due to rapid arctic warming, major shifts have been noticed among marine mammals. In a recent hydrophone survey of migration gateways to the Arctic, scientists discovered that there are some "new waters" to humpback and fin whales, according to scienceworldreport.

Due to climate change, ice is melting and opening new passages, while there is enhanced competition between whales, polar bears and other marine animals. Hence, climate change is affecting marine animals.

"We see winners and losers as changes accelerate, and some of the winners are likely to be those that are most adaptable and resilient to change," said Sue Moore, one of the researchers, in a news release.

In face, climate change would affect their diet and conditions, range as well as habitat. It would give new opportunities for species such as humpback whales, which would be able to shift towards new habitat. Other species, such as walrus and polar bears, would also be faced with unsolvable problems.

Hence, climate change would affect most marine mammals, which are changing their diets to look for new "prey items".

"New research has revealed many mechanisms connecting rapid sea-ice loss, Arctic warming, and weather tendencies," said Jennifer Francis, a researcher. "It's not simple, but as Mother Nature keeps dishing out these unusual events we can start to connect the dots between them to understand the larger picture of what's happening and how it's likely to affect animals within and beyond the Arctic including humans."

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