How warming temperatures in the Gulf are affecting marine life

It might sound like a broken record at times, but our planet is warming. One can argue the source, but the fact is our oceans are warming as well. The Gulf of Mexico is the warmest it has been on record and that obviously affects our hurricane season, but it also affects our diverse marine ecosystems.

“Like persistently for the last year, water temperatures have been above average,” said Dr. Melissa May, associate professor of marine biology at Florida Gulf Coast University. “When we were at Kimberly’s Reef last week, bottom temperature was 30 degrees C, so it was one degree cooler than the surface.”

Dr. May says these warming temperatures can wreck havoc on marine life and the ecosystems they live in.

“Most things that live in the ocean are cold blooded, which means they can’t regulate their body temperature the same way humans do,” said Dr. May. “So, when it warms up that directly correlates to an increase in metabolism for them.”

According to Dr. May that leads to more stress. It also can lead to more pathogens and bacteria in the water.

“If you think about bacteria; you keep things in the refrigerator to keep them from reproducing,” said Dr. May. “So, when they are out and it's warmer, they just proliferate. Same thing happens in the ocean.”

That combination of warmth and bacteria is already negatively impacting our coral reefs.

“They were noticing not only were the corals bleaching, but also a lot of prevalence of disease caused bleaching,” said Dr. May.

These warming temperatures can also change what is even living here.

“You tend to get pole ward shifts in species distributions,” said Dr. May. “So, things that live closer to the equator move a little bit further north and things that live in subtropical areas move to more temperate areas. So, everything kind of goes away from where those extremes sources are.”

Dr. May says we are already seeing some of those pole ward shifts.

“New species coming in, some species that were resident moving further north, like you see with mangroves, and displaces some our native habitats,” said Dr. May.

Dr. May says it's not all doom and gloom, she believes that since we have been warming for some time, it might give some species time to acclimate to our warming planet.