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Wild Things: Life as We Know It
Chewing dinosaurs, climate change, self-sacrificing ants and black bears
By Amanda Bensen, T.A. Frail, Megan Gambino, Anika Gupta and Sarah Zielinski
Smithsonian magazine, December 2008
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Carbon dioxide, a main cause of climate change, makes ocean water more acidic and more efficient at transmitting sound waves. (Paul Souders / Corbis)
Add noise to the list of climate change consequences. Carbon dioxide dissolved in ocean water makes it more acidic -- and more efficient at transmitting sound waves. Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute marine chemists predict that by 2050, ocean sounds such as whale calls may travel 70 percent farther than today; the effect on marine animals is unknown.
Additional Sources
"Sauropod Gigantism," P. Martin Sander and Marcus Clauss, Science, October 10, 2008
"Unanticipated consequences of ocean acidification: A noisier ocean at lower pH," Keith C. Hester et al., Geophysical Research Letters, October 1, 2008
"Preemptive Defensive Self-Sacrifice by Ant Workers," Adam Tofilski et al., The American Naturalist, November 2008
"Carnivores, urban landscapes, and longitudinal studies: a case history of black bears," Jon P. Beckmann and Carl W. Lackey, Human-Wildlife Conflicts, Fall 2008
"Primate hunting by bonobos at LuiKotale, Salonga National Park," Marin Surbeck and Gottfried Hohmann, Current Biology, October 14, 2008
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