Warming threat to whales
WARMING ocean temperatures are threatening the recovery of an endangered whale population.
A team of scientists from the Federal University of Santa Catarina in Brazil studied data dating back to the 1970s to model the impact of El Nino events – where ocean surface temperatures warm to aboveaverage temperatures – on southern right whales.
Their research found a higher death rate for whales after El Nino periods.
The researchers said increasing ocean warming events could not only threaten the whales but cause additional climate threats, as whales play an important role in ocean ecosystems and storing carbon from the atmosphere throughout their lives.