Innovative research has found the first evidence that animals that create a green (carbonate) skeleton can not only survive in extreme temperatures, but are also able to produce a skeleton and grow at these temperatures.
As part of the research, the ability to grow and create a calcareous skeleton of single-celled animals called foraminifera, living in the heat spot created near the Hadera power plant where the water temperature reaches an extreme state of 42 degrees, was tested.
Marine animals that build calcareous skeletons are a significant part of the life system of the shallow marine environment as reef builders and as part of the carbon cycle. Understanding the impact of the expected global warming on stocks is essential to understanding their fate in a warmer world. A rare opportunity to test effects of sea warming under field conditions is created in thermally polluted areas. The results of the study constitute the first evidence that green skeleton-forming animals can not only survive in extreme temperatures but are also able to produce a skeleton and grow at these temperatures. On the other hand, it seems that in the winter months the cold temperatures prevent the creation of a skeleton of these special species.
From these results it can be concluded that under realistic scenarios of continued global warming, heat-resistant foraminiferal species will become a significant part of the biological system that produces carbonate and the carbon cycle.
The research was conducted by the doctoral student Dana Titelbaum from Ben-Gurion University, under the guidance of Prof. Sigal Abramowitz from the Department of Geological and Environmental Sciences in collaboration with Dr. Ahuva Almogi and from the Geological Institute, Prof. Barak Hirot of the Seas and Lakes Research Institute in Israel and Dr. Alexei Sadkov from the University of Cambridge.
The research was supported by BMBF-MOST and the National Science Foundation.
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Important research
It's really interesting how much carbon these animals can actually fix and remove from the carbon cycle
in the atmosphere to contribute to the fight against global warming. The fact that they are thermophilic
Very helpful in this case.
It is possible that there is a chance, however slight, of irrigating even Mars with them (95% carbon dioxide)
If significant energy sources are built there (nuclear reactors?).
And what about the acidity? The rise in temperature is the result of an increase in CO2 in the atmosphere, which increases the acidity of the sea.