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Related: About this forumScientists worry that warming seas may be harming the endangered right whale
Provincetown, Mass. Normally for a few days in spring, beachgoers on this hook of land stretching into Cape Cod Bay witness one of the rarest scenes in the animal kingdom: dozens of surface-skimming North Atlantic right whales, lumbering just a few hundred yards from shore.But that rite of spring was upended this year. The critically endangered animals, which usually arrive in late March or early April to graze on shrimplike plankton, began arriving before Christmas, as water temperatures hovered several degrees above normal, dispersing only recently.
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Scientists are reluctant to draw a straight line between warmer water and changes in whale behavior, but some feel that theyre seeing more than coinciden-
ces. Water temperatures in and around Cape Cod Bay were more than 3.5 degrees above average this winter, although scientists say this is probably a short-term anomaly that cant be directly attributed to climate change.
To me or you 3.5 degrees isnt a big difference, but in an ocean system it means different oceanography, different currents and different biological processes, Mayo said. He suspects this could be driving changes in the distribution and timing of plankton blooms, in turn influencing the whales odd behavior.
More: http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/scientist-worrry-that-warming-seas-may-be-harming-the-endangered-right-whale/2012/04/30/gIQA1wREsT_story.html
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Scientists worry that warming seas may be harming the endangered right whale (Original Post)
Dead_Parrot
May 2012
OP
RobertEarl
(13,685 posts)1. yep
the least adaptable species will suffer the most harm.
Dead_Parrot
(14,478 posts)2. Maybe we can get the Japanese to eat them all...
....then the problem will go away.
Nihil
(13,508 posts)3. Give 'em time ...
... and I'm sure they'll manage it (with aggressive support on "Environment" forums too) ...