In recent decades, ocean warming and rapid loss of sea ice have drastically changed the marine environment of the Arctic. These new conditions are favoring the flowering of harmful algae that produce toxins that can have harmful effects for ecosystems and human beings.
Today a study led by the Noaa Fisheries de Seattle (United States) He has discovered the direct relationship between the increase in toxins of algae that enter the food chain and the increase in the temperature of the oceans.
The study, published in an article in the Nature magazine and based on the compilation of Arctic data collected during the last twenty years, can help understand how ocean warming increases the concentrations of toxins of algae threatening the food security of the native Alaska communities that have depended on marine resources during the last 5,000 years.
And although it provides that in the future the warming of the oceans and the loss of sea ice favor the proliferation of toxic algae, little is still known about how these toxins can be affecting the Arctic.
The study, led by Kathi Lefebvre, of the NOAA Fisheries, lies in the toxins found in the intestinal samples of 205 boreal whales of the Beaufort sea, collected over 19 years to quantify in detail the evolution of those toxins in that period of time.
The team discovered that algae toxins concentrations were strongly correlated with ocean temperature changes, as well as with the open water surface (the amount of ice free water), wind speed and atmospheric pressure.
The highest levels of toxins were associated with a greater heating of the ocean and a reduction in marine ice extension.
This finding suggests that more toxins are entering the food chain, which affects marine animals and, potentially, humans who depend on marine resources for their food, conclude the authors.
In view of this data, the study authors recommend continuously monitoring the exposure of marine animals to toxic algae flowers harmful to protect Arctic communities that depend on these resources for their food.