Marine forests at danger due the effects of human activity

If caution is not taken, complex marine forests could disappear in a few decades.
If caution is not taken, complex marine forests could disappear in a few decades.
Research
(20/12/2017)

Human activity is severely and rapidly altering marine ecosystems, a phenomenon that puts at danger the preservation of biodiversity regarding global change, according to the book Marine Animal Forest, edited by a team formed by the experts Andrea Gori (Faculty of Biology of the UB), Sergio Rossi (Institute of Environmental Science and Technology, ICTA-UAB), Lorenzo Bramanti (French National Centre for Scientific Research, CNRS) and Covadonga Orejas (Spanish Institute of Oceanography, IEO).
 

If caution is not taken, complex marine forests could disappear in a few decades.
If caution is not taken, complex marine forests could disappear in a few decades.
Research
20/12/2017

Human activity is severely and rapidly altering marine ecosystems, a phenomenon that puts at danger the preservation of biodiversity regarding global change, according to the book Marine Animal Forest, edited by a team formed by the experts Andrea Gori (Faculty of Biology of the UB), Sergio Rossi (Institute of Environmental Science and Technology, ICTA-UAB), Lorenzo Bramanti (French National Centre for Scientific Research, CNRS) and Covadonga Orejas (Spanish Institute of Oceanography, IEO).
 

Published by Springer-Nature, the new volume shows the wide range of animal forests in marine seabeds, rich biological communities dominated by organisms (corals, sea fans, sponges, etc.) that generate the three-dimensional structure of benthic communities.


Underwater forests: structure and shelter in sea floors


Substrate, shelter, and source of food for the aquatic life, marine animal forests or the animal forest is probably the largest biological structure in the planet (70 % covered by sea and ocean). However, we only know about the 5 % of hidden life in marine ecosystems and, in particular, there are large areas of animal forests still to explore. According to the researcher Andrea Gori (UB), “this new book is the result of researchersʼ contributions. They study several organisms from different perspectives and for the first time, they coincide in a publication under a general concept -“animal forests”- that proves their important ecological role as structural species in marine ecosystems”.

According to Sergio Rossi (ICTA-UAB), the main author, “these communities have structural and functional similarities to terrestrial forests, despite being dominated by animals instead of plants”. The idea of “animal forest” wants to share -like in forest ecology- a kind of system with a way of functioning based on a common strategy: filtration of water particles and suspension feeding material. 


From the tropics to polar latitudes


These water forestsʼ extension, biodiversity, and ability to recover have been dramatically reduced due the impact of human activity during the last decades. Massive fishing, exploitation of natural resources, pollution, and urbanization at the coast are factors that have been added to the climate change effects (global warming, acidification, etc.). From the tropic to polar latitudes, underwater forests -built by long-lived bodies with a slow growth- are shaped as very sensitive to environmental changes caused by human impact and global climate change. One of the most important examples, among many, is the reduction of the natural ability of oceans to absorb the growing atmospheric CO2 levels -a gas with a high greenhouse effect.


“If caution is not taken, complex marine forests and with a larger biodiversity could disappear in a few decades, like many forests of flowering and long-lived marine algae that are disappearing directly or indirectly due human activity” warn the authors of the book.