Earth’s ever changing climate
have a great effect on marine life forms in the ocean, changing their natural
habitats and driving them to the point of extinction. Of the 129 species of
marine mammals an estimate of approximately one-quarter of them are current
facing extinction. It is important to protect these animals in order to
preserver the biodiversity as well as a functioning ecosystem because most of
these mammals include top predators on the food chain, for example dolphins and
polar bears. At Stanford University and the National Autonomous University of
Mexico, researchers found out that by preserving 4% of the ocean this could
play a crucial role in the protection of a vast majority of marine mammal
species.
The researchers pinpointed areas of the ocean where
conservation could protect the maximum number of species that are vulnerable to
extinction, and overlaid maps where each marine mammal species is found, these
composition of map revealed to them locations with the highest diversity of
species. After pinpointing the 20 conservation sites that contains about 84% of
all marine animals, the scientist also considered habitats of special
importance to the mammal as well as locating breeding grounds and migration
routes. It was found that these areas where all coincided with regions that are
highly impact by human activity therefore this would make conservation
difficult, but the ultimate goal is still protecting 4% of the worlds ocean in
order to preserve some of the worlds most magnificent creatures.
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| Sea Otter: One of the endangered marine mammals |
Bibliography: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/08/110829115431.htm:
