Climate change threatens Southern Ocean ecosystem via 'sea butterfly' life cycle.
The life cycle of shelled sea butterflies, or pteropods, is threatened by climate change and ocean acidification, which could have cascading effects on the Southern Ocean ecosystem. Scientists have studied the life cycles, abundance, and seasonal variability of sea butterflies in the north-east Scotia Sea, a region undergoing some of the fastest climate change in the Southern Ocean. They found that the decline in Antarctic Ocean pteropod populations could have cascading ramifications to the food web and carbon cycle.