Climate change 'threatens porpoises'

Porpoises in the North Sea could decline due to climate change

Tweet

Print Share

 

Also In The News

Employee of the Month
Directed by Greg Coolidge, out now in cinemas, starring Jessica Simpson, Dane Cook, Dax Shephard and Andy Dick, running time 103 minutes.

• Gunners run riot at Anfield
• Gunners run riot at Anfield
• Terry fined for Poll outburst

 

Wednesday, 10, Jan 2007 11:21

Climate change's negative effects on the seas' sandeel population are threatening the future survival of porpoises in the Scottish North Sea, research has found.

Sandeels are known to be affected by warmer seas in a number of ways, including a decline in their numbers due to a lack of plankton to feed on.

Scottish researchers investigating whether this had an indirect effect on porpoises found a link between lower sandeel numbers with an increasing amount of the small whale species dying from starvation.

The scientists investigated porpoise diet in spring, "a critical time of year for survival when sandeels are important prey", between 1993 and 2001 (described as the baseline period).

They then compared this data with results from spring 2002 and 2003.

Porpoise diet was found to be "substantially different" and there were differences in the number of porpoises starving between the two time periods - 33 per cent in spring 2002 and 2003 died of starvation compared to just five per cent in the baseline period.

Although the findings are based on a relatively small sample size, the researchers argue that they are "sufficiently marked to be noteworthy".

"We suggest that the negative effects of climate change on sandeel availability may have serious negative effects on harbour porpoise populations in the North Sea by increasing the likelihood of starvation in spring," the study's authors write online in Proceedings of the Royal Society B.

"If, as predicted by climate models, the trends to warmer water temperatures and increased variation in the timing of the spring phytoplankton bloom continue, the availability of sandeels in spring is likely to be further reduced. This will increase the likelihood of starvation in porpoises and have implications for their conservation."