https://hakaimagazine.com/news/can-you-smell-me-now-how-bout-now/
"Dungeness crabs hunt by flicking their chemical-detecting antennae to and fro.
Sensing the water—the underwater equivalent of sniffing the air—is a well-trod
strategy for homing in on potential prey. But that timeless tactic appears to
be at risk, as new research shows that climate change–induced ocean
acidification seems to cause Dungeness crabs’ antennae to falter.
Researchers at the University of Toronto Scarborough in Ontario put Dungeness
crabs in water just slightly more acidic than normal—conditions that are
already present in some coastal ecosystems and could be widespread by the year
2100 if humans continue to emit a high level of greenhouse gases. They found
that the animals need to be exposed to cadaverine, a food signaling chemical,
at a concentration 10 times higher than normal before they register its
presence.
And it’s not just Dungeness crabs that appear to be in trouble. Acidification
threatens to deprive a variety of marine species of crucial chemical cues.
Research into this phenomenon is still limited, but as the field develops, the
scope of the potential consequences is growing clearer.
“Almost every chemical that’s in the sea could be affected,” says Jorg Hardege,
a chemical ecologist at the University of Hull in England."
Via Diane A.
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
