Skip to main content Accessibility help

We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.

Close cookie message
×
Hostname: page-component-669899f699-7tmb6 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-05-02T08:07:06.575Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

4 - Extinction Threats to Life in the Ocean and Opportunities for Their Amelioration

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  19 August 2019

By
Jenna M. Sullivan ,
Vanessa Constant  and
Jane Lubchenco
Edited by
Partha Dasgupta ,
Peter Raven  and
Anna McIvor
Partha Dasgupta
Affiliation:
University of Cambridge
Peter Raven
Affiliation:
Missouri Botanical Garden
Anna McIvor
Affiliation:
University of Cambridge
Get access

Summary

‘The oceans not only contain most of the planet, but also most of the wide variety of living things’ (Pope Francis, 2015). With this statement, Pope Francis summarised a central point about life on Earth: we cannot understand and protect Earth’s biodiversity without considering the ocean. Covering over 70 per cent of the Earth’s surface, the ocean represents an estimated 99 per cent of its habitable living space (Costanza, 1999). The ocean harbours a remarkably rich diversity of species, with almost twice as many major groups, or phyla, of animals living in the ocean as on land. (Of the 34 known phyla of animals, 33 are found in the ocean and only 12 are found on land.) A single type of marine habitat, the coral reef, holds over 50 per cent more phyla than all terrestrial and freshwater habitats combined, despite having a surface area more than 460 times smaller (Birkeland, 2015).

Type
Chapter
Information
Biological Extinction
New Perspectives
 , pp. 113 - 137
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2019

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Book purchase

Temporarily unavailable

References

Appeltans, W., Ahyong, S. T., Anderson, G., Angel, M. V., Artois, T., et al. 2012. The magnitude of global marine species diversity. Current Biology, 22(23): 2189–2202.Google Scholar
Balcazar, N. E., Tripovich, J. S., Klinck, H., Nieukirk, S. L., Mellinger, D. K., et al. 2015. Calls reveal population structure of blue whales across the southeast Indian Ocean and the southwest Pacific Ocean. Journal of Mammalogy, 96(6): 1184–1193.Google Scholar
Barner, A., Lubchenco, J., Costello, C., Gaines, S., Leland, A., et al. 2015. Solutions for recovering and sustaining the bounty of the ocean: Combining fishery reforms, rights-based fisheries management, and marine reserves. Oceanography, 25(2): 252–263.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Barnosky, A. D., Matzke, N., Tomiya, S., Wogon, G. O. U., Swartz, B., et al. 2011. Has the Earth’s sixth mass extinction already arrived? Nature, 471: 51–57.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bellwood, D. R., Hughes, T. P., Folke, C. & Nyströ, M. 2004. Confronting the coral reef crisis. Nature, 6994: 827–33.Google Scholar
Birkeland, C. 2015. Coral Reefs in the Anthropocene. Dordrecht, Netherlands: Springer.Google Scholar
Burgess, M. G., Costello, C., Fredston-Hermann, A., Pinsky, M. L., Gaines, S. D., et al. 2017a. Range contraction enables harvesting to extinction. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 114(15): 3945–3950.Google Scholar
Burgess, M. G., Fredston-Hermann, A., Pinsky, M. L., Gaines, S. D. & Tilman, D. 2017b. Reply to Le Pape et al.: Management is key to preventing marine extinctions. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 114(31): E6275–E6276.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Burrows, M. T., Schoeman, D. S., Buckley, L. B., Moore, P., Poloczanska, E. S., et al. 2011. The pace of shifting climate in marine and terrestrial ecosystems. Science, 334(6056): 652–655.Google Scholar
Ceballos, G., Ehrlich, P. R. & Dirzo, R. 2017. Biological annihilation via the ongoing sixth mass extinction signaled by vertebrate population losses and declines. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 114(30): E6089–E6096.Google Scholar
Cheung, W. W. L., Lam, V. W. Y., Sarmiento, J. L., Kearney, K., Watson, R., et al. 2009. Projecting global marine biodiversity impacts under climate change scenarios. Fish and Fisheries, 10(3): 235–251.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Conathan, M & Siciliano, A. 2016. America’s Blueprint for Sustainable Fisheries. Washington, DC: Center for American Progress. www.americanprogress.org/issues/green/reports/2016/09/14/144126/americas-blueprint-for-sustainable-fisheries/.Google Scholar
Costanza, R. 1999. The ecological, economic, and social importance of the oceans. Ecological Economics, 31: 199–213.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Costello, C., Ovando, D., Clavelle, T., Strauss, C. K., Hilborn, R., et al. 2016. Global fishery prospects under contrasting management regimes. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 113(18): 5125–5129.Google Scholar
Costello, M. J. & Chaudhary, C. 2017. Marine biodiversity, biogeography, deep-sea gradients, and conservation. Current Biology, 27(11): R511–R527.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Crossland, C. J. 2006. Coastal Fluxes in the Anthropocene. Berlin: Springer.Google Scholar
Darimont, C. T., Fox, C. H., Bryan, H. M. & Reimchen, T. E. 2015. The unique ecology of human predators. Science, 349(6250): 858–860.Google Scholar
Davidson, L. N. K., Dulvy, N. K., Dulvy, N. K., Barker, B. & Brodie, P. 2017. Global marine protected areas to prevent extinctions. Nature Ecology & Evolution, 1(2): 6.Google Scholar
Dulvy, N. K., Sadovy, Y. & Reynolds, J. D. 2003. Extinction vulnerability in marine populations. Fish and Fisheries, 4(1): 25–64.Google Scholar
EDF Fisheries Solutions Center. 2017. Database | Fishery Solutions Center. http://fisherysolutionscenter.edf.org/database.Google Scholar
FAO. 2016. The State of World Fisheries and Aquaculture 2016. Contributing to Food Security and Nutrition for All. Rome. www.fao.org/3/a-i5555e.pdf.Google Scholar
Fisher, R. 2013. Gulf of Mexico/South Atlantic Final Seafood Recommendation. www.seafoodwatch.org/-/m/sfw/pdf/reports/s/mba_seafoodwatch_gulfofmexicosnapperreport.pdf.Google Scholar
Gardner, T. A., Côté, I. M., Gill, J. A., Grant, A. & Watkinson, A. R. 2003. Long-term region-wide declines in Caribbean corals. Science, 301(5635): 958–960.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Gleckler, P. J., Durack, P. J., Stouuer, R. J., Johnson, G. C. & Forest, C. E. 2016. Industrial-era global ocean heat uptake doubles in recent decades. Nature Climate Change, 6: 394–398.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Grimm, D., Barkhorn, I., Festa, D., Bonzon, K., Boomhower, J., et al. 2012. Assessing catch shares’ effects evidence from Federal United States and associated British Columbian fisheries. Marine Policy, 36(3): 644–657.Google Scholar
Harnik, P. G., Lotze, H. K., Anderson, S. C., Finkel, Z. V., Finnegan, S., et al. 2012. Extinctions in ancient and modern seas. Trends in Ecology & Evolution, 27(11): 608–617.Google Scholar
Higgs, N. D. & Attrill, M. J. 2015. Biases in biodiversity: wide-ranging species are discovered first in the deep sea. Frontiers in Marine Science, 2: 61.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jablonski, D., Belanger, C. L., Berke, S. K., Huang, S., Krug, A. Z., et al. 2013. Out of the tropics, but how? Fossils, bridge species, and thermal ranges in the dynamics of the marine latitudinal diversity gradient. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 110(26): 10487–10494.Google Scholar
Jablonski, D., Huang, S., Roy, K. & Valentine, J. W. 2017. Shaping the latitudinal diversity gradient: New perspectives from a synthesis of paleobiology and biogeography. The American Naturalist, 189(1): 1–12.Google Scholar
Jaume, D. & Duarte, C. M. 2006. General aspects concerning marine and terrestrial biodiversity. In Duarte, C. M. (Ed.), The Exploration of Marine Biodiversity Scientific and Technological Challenges: 17–30. Bilbao: Fundacion BBVA.Google Scholar
Jellison, B. M., Ninokawa, A. T., Hill, T. M., Sanford, E. & Gaylord, B. 2016. Ocean acidification alters the response of intertidal snails to a key sea star predator. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London B: Biological Sciences, 283(1833): 20160890.Google Scholar
Katsanevakis, S., Wallentinus, I., Zenetos, A., Leppakoski, E., Cinar, M. E., et al. 2014. Impacts of invasive alien marine species on ecosystem services and biodiversity: a pan-European review. Aquatic Invasions, 9(4): 391–423.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kinlan, B. P. & Gaines, S. D. 2003. Propagule dispersal in marine and terrestrial environments: a community perspective. Ecology, 84(8): 2007–2020.Google Scholar
Klein, C. J., Brown, C. J., Halpern, B. S., Segan, D. B., McGowan, J., et al. 2015. Shortfalls in the global protected area network at representing marine biodiversity. Scientific Reports, 5(1): 17539.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Knapp, S., Schweiger, O., Kraberg, A., Asmus, H., Asmus, R., et al. 2017. Do drivers of biodiversity change differ in importance across marine and terrestrial systems – Or is it just different research communities’ perspectives? Science of the Total Environment, 574: 191–203.Google Scholar
Kodikara, K. A. S., Mukherjee, N., Jayatissa, L. P., Dahdouh-Guebas, F. & Koedam, N. 2017. Have mangrove restoration projects worked? An in-depth study in Sri Lanka. Restoration Ecology, 25(5): 705–716.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Le Pape, O., Bonhommeau, S., Nieblas, A.-E. & Fromentin, J.-M. 2017. Overfishing causes frequent fish population collapses but rare extinctions. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 114(31): E6274.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Leray, M. & Knowlton, N. 2015. DNA barcoding and metabarcoding of standardized samples reveal patterns of marine benthic diversity. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 112(7): 2076–2081.Google Scholar
Lester, S., Halpern, B., Grorud-Colvert, K., Lubchenco, J., Ruttenberg, B., et al. 2009. Biological effects within no-take marine reserves: A global synthesis. Marine Ecology Progress Series, 384: 33–46.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Levitus, S., Antonov, J. & Boyer, T. 2005. Warming of the world ocean, 1955–2003. Geophysical Research Letters, 32(2): L02604.Google Scholar
Logan, C. A. 2010. A review of ocean acidification and America’s response. BioScience, 60(10): 819–828.Google Scholar
Love, M. S., Yoklavich, M. M. & Thorsteinson, L. K. 2002. The Rockfishes of the Northeast Pacific. Berkeley: University of California Press.Google Scholar
Lubchenco, J., Cerny-Chipman, E. B., Reimer, J. N. & Levin, S. A. 2016a. The right incentives enable ocean sustainability successes and provide hope for the future. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 113(51): 14507–14514.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Lubchenco, J., Gaines, S. D., Grorud-Colvert, K., Airamé, S., Palumbi, S. R., et al. 2007. Science of Marine Reserves Second Edition: United States Version. www.piscoweb.org/sites/default/files/SMR_US_LowRes.pdf.Google Scholar
Lubchenco, J. & Grorud-Colvert, K. 2015. Making waves: The science and politics of ocean protection. Science, 350(6259): 382–383.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Lubchenco, J., Guidetti, P., Grorud-Colvert, K., Giakoumi, S., Gaines, S. D., et al. 2016b. Science of Marine Reserves – Mediterranean Version. www.piscoweb.org.Google Scholar
Matson, S. E. 2014. West Coast Groundfish, Shorebased IFQ Program September 2014 Catch Report. www.westcoast.fisheries.noaa.gov/publications/fishery_management/trawl_program/analytical_docs/ifqcatchreport-sept2014.pdf.Google Scholar
McCauley, D. J., Pinsky, M. L., Palumbi, S. R., Estes, J. A., Joyce, F. H., et al. 2015. Marine defaunation: Animal loss in the global ocean. Science, 347(6219): 1255641.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
McIntyre, A. D. 2010. Life in the World’s Oceans: Diversity, Distribution, and Abundance. Chichester, UK: Wiley-Blackwell.Google Scholar
Micheli, F., Sáenz-Arroyo, A., Greenley, A., Vazquez, L., Espinoza-Montes, J. A., et al. 2012. Evidence that marine reserves enhance resilience to climatic impacts (A. P. Klimley, Ed.). PLoS One, 7(7): e40832.Google Scholar
Miller, G. T. & Spoolman, S. 2009. Living in the Environment: Concepts, Connections, and Solutions, 16th ed. Belmont, CA: Brooks/Cole.Google Scholar
Molinos, J. G., Halpern, B. S., Schoeman, D. S., Brown, C. J., Kiessling, W., et al. 2016. Climate velocity and the future global redistribution of marine biodiversity. Nature Climate Change, 6: 83–90.Google Scholar
Morin, P. A., Scott Baker, C., Brewer, R. S., Burdin, A. M., Dalebout, M. L., et al. 2017. Genetic structure of the beaked whale genus Berardius in the North Pacific, with genetic evidence for a new species. Marine Mammal Science, 33(1): 96–111.Google Scholar
Munday, P. L., Cheal, A. J., Dixson, D. L., Rummer, J. L. & Fabricius, K. E. 2014. Behavioural impairment in reef fishes caused by ocean acidification at CO2 seeps. Nature Climate Change, 4: 487–492.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Munguía-Vega, A., Sáenz-Arroyo, A., Greenley, A. P., Espinoza-Montes, J. A., Palumbi, S. R., et al. 2015. Marine reserves help preserve genetic diversity after impacts derived from climate variability: Lessons from the pink abalone in Baja California. Global Ecology and Conservation, 4: 264–276.Google Scholar
Naylor, R. L., Goldburg, R. J., Primavera, J. H., Kautsky, N., Beveridge, M. C. M., et al. 2000. Effect of aquaculture on world fish supplies. Nature, 405(6790): 1017–1024.Google Scholar
Nelms, S., Piniak, W., Weir, C. & Godley, B. 2016. Biological Conservation. https://ore.exeter.ac.uk/repository/handle/10871/23049.Google Scholar
NMFS. 2015. 2014 Gulf of Mexico Red Snapper Individual Fishing Quota Annual Report Executive Summary. http://sero.nmfs.noaa.gov/sustainable_fisheries/ifq/documents/pdfs/annual_reports/2014_rs_annualreport.pdf.Google Scholar
NOAA. 2017. Rebuilding Success Continues for West Coast Groundfish. www.westcoast.fisheries.noaa.gov/stories/2017/19_06192017_.html.Google Scholar
NOAA Fisheries. 2016a. Status of Stocks 2016. www.nmfs.noaa.gov/sfa/fisheries_eco/status_of_fisheries/archive/2016/status-of-stocks-2016-web.pdf.Google Scholar
NOAA Fisheries 2016b. Rebuilding Plans Pay Off for West Coast Groundfish Fishery. www.westcoast.fisheries.noaa.gov/stories/2016/22_04222016_rebuilding_rockfish.html.Google Scholar
Nyborg, K., Anderies, J. M., Dannenberg, A., Lindahl, T., Schill, C., et al. 2016. Social norms as solutions. Science, 354(6308): 42–43.Google Scholar
Nyegaard, M., Sawai, E., Gemmell, N., Gillum, J., Loneragan, N. R., et al. 2017. Hiding in broad daylight: molecular and morphological data reveal a new ocean sunfish species (Tetraodontiformes: Molidae) that has eluded recognition. Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society, 56: 232–244.Google Scholar
OECD. 2014. OECD-FAO Agricultural Outlook 2014. https://doi.org/10.1787/agr_outlook-2014-en.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Orcutt, B. 2016. Dr Beth Orcutt on the Discovery of a New Habitat on the Ocean Seafloor. www.youtube.com/watch?v=bM_BSInK2C8.Google Scholar
Orzechowski, E. A., Lockwood, R., Byrnes, J. E. K., Anderson, S. C., Finnegan, S., et al. 2015. Marine extinction risk shaped by trait-environment interactions over 500 million years. Global Change Biology, 21(10): 3595–3607.Google Scholar
Parker, J. D., Torchin, M. E., Hufbauer, R. A., Lemoine, N. P., Alba, C., et al. 2013. Do invasive species perform better in their new ranges? Ecology, 94(5): 985–994.Google Scholar
Parmesan, C. & Yohe, G. 2003. A globally coherent fingerprint of climate change impacts across natural systems. Nature, 421(6918): 37–42.Google Scholar
Payne, J. L., Bush, A. M., Heim, N. A., Knope, M. L. & McCauley, D. J. 2016. Ecological selectivity of the emerging mass extinction in the oceans. Science, 353(6305): 1284–1286.Google Scholar
Polidoro, B. A., Carpenter, K. E., Collins, L., Duke, N. C., Ellison, A. M., et al. 2010. The loss of species: Mangrove extinction risk and geographic areas of global concern. (D. M. Hansen, Ed.). PLoS One, 5(4): e10095.Google Scholar
Pope Francis, . 2015. Laudato Si’: On Care for Our Common Home [Encyclical]. Vatican City, Italy: Vatican Press. http://w2.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/encyclicals/documents/papa-francesco_20150524_enciclica-laudato-si.html.Google Scholar
Ramírez, F., Afán, I., Davis, L. S. & Chiaradia, A. 2017. Climate impacts on global hot spots of marine biodiversity. Science Advances, 3(2): e1601198.Google Scholar
Roberts, C. M., O’Leary, B. C., McCauley, D. J., Cury, P. M., Duarte, C. M., et al. 2017. Marine reserves can mitigate and promote adaptation to climate change. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 114(24): 6167–6175.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Sala, E. & Giakoumi, S. 2017. No-take marine reserves are the most effective protected areas in the ocean. ICES Journal of Marine Science. https://doi.org/10.1093/icesjms/fsx059.Google Scholar
Schuldt, J. P., Pearson, A. R., Romero-Canyas, R. & Larson-Konar, D. 2017. Brief exposure to Pope Francis heightens moral beliefs about climate change. Climatic Change, 141(2): 167–177.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sciberras, M., Jenkins, S. R., Mant, R., Kaiser, M. J., Hawkins, S. J., et al. 2015. Evaluating the relative conservation value of fully and partially protected marine areas. Fish and Fisheries, 16(1): 58–77.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Spalding, M. D. & Brown, B. E. 2015. Warm-water coral reefs and climate change. Science, 350(6262): 769–771.Google Scholar
Sun, S., Li, Q., Kong, L., Yu, H., Zheng, X., et al. 2016. DNA barcoding revel patterns of species diversity among northwestern Pacific molluscs. Scientific Reports, 6: 33367.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Valiela, I., Bowen, J. L., York, J. K., et al. 2001. Mangrove forests: One of the world’s threatened major tropical environments. BioScience, 51 (10):807.Google Scholar
Watson, S.-A., Fields, J. B. & Munday, P. L. 2017. Ocean acidification alters predator behaviour and reduces predation rate. Biology Letters, 13(2): 20160797.Google Scholar
Watson, S.-A., Lefevre, S., McCormick, M. I., Domenici, P., Nilsson, G. E., et al. 2013. Marine mollusc predator-escape behaviour altered by near-future carbon dioxide levels. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London B: Biological Sciences, 281(1774): 20132377.Google Scholar
Waycott, M., Duarte, C. M., Carruthers, T. J. B., Orth, R. J., Dennison, W. C., et al. 2009. Accelerating loss of seagrasses across the globe threatens coastal ecosystems. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 106(30): 12377–12381.Google Scholar
Webb, T. J. & Mindel, B. L. 2015. Global patterns of extinction risk in marine and non-marine systems. Current Biology, 25(4): 506–511.Google Scholar
Weigel, J.-Y., Mannle, K. O., Bennett, N. J., Carter, E., Westlund, L., et al. 2014. Marine protected areas and fisheries: Bridging the divide. Aquatic Conservation: Marine and Freshwater Ecosystems, 24(S2): 199–215.Google Scholar
White, C. & Costello, C. 2014. Close the high seas to fishing? PLoS Biology, 12(3): e1001826.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
White, T. D., Carlisle, A. B., Kroodsma, D. A., Block, B. A., Casagrandi, R., et al. 2017. Assessing the effectiveness of a large marine protected area for reef shark conservation. Biological Conservation, 207: 64–71.Google Scholar
Williams, R., Wright, A. J., Ashe, E., Blight, L. K., Bruintjes, R., et al. 2015. Impacts of anthropogenic noise on marine life: Publication patterns, new discoveries, and future directions in research and management. Ocean & Coastal Management, 115: 17–24.Google Scholar
Worm, B. & Paine, R. T. 2016. Humans as a hyperkeystone species. Trends in Ecology & Evolution, 31(8): 600–607.Google Scholar

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure [email protected] is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×