by A new study reveals that dissolved oxygen in the planet’s water bodies is rapidly decreasing, posing one of the greatest risks to Earth’s life support system. The reason cited by the team of scientists from the United States is climate change and greenhouse gas emissions. Scientific alert Warmer water contains less oxygen, which is a fundamental problem for aquatic life that depends on dissolved oxygen to survive, just as atmospheric oxygen is extremely important for humans and animals.
The research team wants aquatic deoxygenation to be added to the list of “planetary boundaries,” which are thresholds that allow humanity to develop and thrive.
So far, there are nine planetary boundaries: climate change, ocean acidification, stratospheric ozone depletion, interference with global phosphorus and nitrogen cycles, rate of biodiversity loss, global freshwater use, Earth system change, aerosol loading, and chemical pollution.
“The observed deoxygenation of Earth’s freshwater and marine ecosystems represents an additional planetary boundary process that is critical to the integrity of Earth’s ecological and social systems, and that regulates and responds to ongoing changes in other planetary boundary processes,” the scientists said in the study.
“Relevant critical oxygen thresholds are being approached at rates comparable to other planetary boundary processes,” they added.
Other reasons for the rapid depletion of aquatic oxygen are the proliferation of algae and bacteria due to the influx of organic matter and nutrients in the form of agricultural and domestic fertilizers, sewage and industrial waste.
If oxygen levels drop to alarming levels, even microbes that do not depend on oxygen will die.
The research was published in Nature Ecology & Evolution.
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