While politicians debate the realities of global warming, the planet's wildlife is left to deal with the consequences of rising ocean levels and unpredictable temperature shifts.
Here are seven sea animals that are affected.
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1. Sea turtles. Six species populate the endangered species list: green turtles, hawksbills, loggerheads, Kemp's ridleys, Olive ridleys, and leatherbacks.
Female turtles lay their eggs in nests on the sand, then return to sea, and reproduction is
affected in many ways by climate change, according to The New England Aquarium. The rising sea level hurts nesting beach areas on low-level sand beaches, while increasing temperatures also heighten the probability that sand temperature will reach beyond 34 degrees Celsius, or the upper limit for incubation. Higher temperatures also shift the balance toward more females because incubation temperature decides the egg's sex.
2. Penguins. A sharp decline in penguins in Antarctica may be the result of rapidly melting sea ice during the past century. They have been resilient over the past several million years, relocating to different areas as necessary, but the temperature shifts place them at continued risk.
"We're seeing declines in every single species that we know uses sea ice as its habitat," University of Texas Associate Professor of Integrated Biology Camille Parmesan
told U.S. News & World Report in November 2009. "The open-ocean species are doing OK. So the penguins in Antarctica that feed in the open ocean are doing OK; the penguin species that feed by just dropping off the ice shelves, like the Adelie and the emperor, are declining."
3. Cold-water fish. Many fish species are put at risk due to even a small rise in water temperature. Some, like trout and salmon, will find fewer habitable areas. Cod found in New England, which provided the namesake for Cape Cod, have already begun searching for cooler waters in the Atlantic.
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4. Seabirds. As the fish leave, so does a food option for animals that rely on them. Seabirds like the Atlantic puffin, the tufted puffin, and the rhinoceros auklet are among those that suffer, US News noted. When food supply is low, animals tend to breed less, or not at all.
5. North Atlantic right whales. One of the most endangered of the large whales, between 300 and 350 North Atlantic right whales still exist without much hope for growth,
according to the World Wildlife Fund. Human exploitation played a large part, they say, but warming waters mean less plankton for feeding. Without proper nutrition, females struggle to gain enough weight to carry a pregnancy to term or supply enough milk.
6. Lobsters. A cold-blooded creature, lobsters are forced to expend more energy for respiration in higher temperatures, leaving less for other life functions like feeding and growth, according to The New England Aquarium.
7. Seals. The sea ice reduction has made it tougher for seals to rest while searching for food. Marine biologists worry about seals being able to survive amid less algae, plankton, and krill, disrupting the ocean's food chain.
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