Brittle sea stars, which usually are in hiding, perch on top of coral to attempt to escape from the deoxygenated environment. Hypoxic ocean waters are those with little to no oxygen, which research suggests is caused by stagnant, warm waters and nutrient pollution. 2017- tropical dead zones and mass mortalities on coral reefs).Ī glimpse at the bottom of the seafloor in shallow waters off the coast in Bocos del Toro after a hypoxic event occurs. More than 10% of coral reefs around the world are at high risk for hypoxia ( Altieri et al. When water drops below 2.8mg of oxygen per liter, it becomes hypoxic. The study looks closely at the changes occurring in both coral reef and microbial communities near Bocas del Toro during sudden hypoxic events. This unique observation prompted a collaborative study explained in a new paper published on July 26, 2021, in Nature Communications analyzing what this foggy water layer is caused by, and the impact it has on life at the bottom of the seafloor. After sitting on a quiet, warm open ocean, they snorkeled down to find a peculiar layer of murky, foul-smelling water about 10 feet below the surface, with brittle stars and sea urchins, which are usually in hiding, perching on the tops of coral. In September of 2017, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution postdoctoral scholar Maggie Johnson was conducting an experiment with a colleague in Bocas del Toro off the Caribbean coast of Panama. Credit: Maggie Johnson © Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution This is a view of the surface waters off the coast of a Bocos del Toro island. These conditions can impact both coral reef and microbial communities, such as the one pictured beneath the sea surface here. Hypoxic ocean waters are those that have little to no oxygen.
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