Marine creatures living in untouched habitats are also at risk due to climate change. Corals are facing the greatest crisis due to human activities. Along with the extinction of marine animals, those that live in pristine marine habitats and diverse coastal areas are also being threatened.
This has been revealed in the research of Santa Barbara and his colleagues with the University of California. It has been published in the open access journal Plos One. Researchers say human activities on land and in the ocean, combined with climate change, are destroying coastal ecosystems. Many species are at risk of extinction and threaten vital ecosystem services on which humans depend. About 42 percent of marine mammals and about 60 percent of sea birds are in danger of extinction. One reason for this is that many of the habitats on which they depend are decreasing in size or being damaged.
Corals are the most threatened group. Among these, mollusks like squid and octopus, echinoderms like sea stars and sea urchins and crustaceans like shrimp, crabs and prawns are also considered to be in grave danger. Rising sea surface temperatures, decreased sea level, and increased salinity due to changes in rainfall can all be caused by weather patterns such as El Niño. These conditions are having a devastating effect on the physiology of corals.