The Secret Life of a Krill

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Antarctic Krill, small crustaceans 🦞 key to the Antarctic marine food web, could lose most of their current habitat by the year 2100, according to a new study. Researchers combined climate simulations with a krill growth model to find that changes in water temperature and sea ice in Antarctic waters could shrink krill habitat by as much as 80 percent by the end of the century, potentially causing a decline in krill that could ripple throughout the entire marine food chain.
Antarctic krill are centimeter-long
shrimp-like crustaceans 🦞 that feed primarily on phytoplankton, the small algae at the base of the marine food chain. Krill are an essential energy source for whales 🐳 penguins 🐧 seals, squid, 🦑 fish 🐟 🐠 and other marine life. Humans also fish for krill, which is used for aquarium food 🥘 fishing bait, pharmaceuticals and in some foods consumed by humans.
Adult krill populations have dropped by 80 to 90 percent since the 1970’s. There is an ongoing scientific debate about what is causing the drop, from changes in the environment to an increase in whale populations, said Andrea Piñones, a marine scientist 👩‍🔬 at Center for Advance Studies in Arid Zones (Centro de Estudios Avanzados en Zonas Aridas) —Coquimbo, Chile, and lead author of the new study published online in Geophysical Research Letters, a journal of the American Geophysical Union.
The new study seeks to understand the additional pressure krill could face in the coming decades as the climate warms. The life cycle of Antarctic krill is closely tied to many factors, including water temperature and the availability of sea ice, Piñones said. While other studies have looked into how ocean acidification, overfishing or more freshwater entering the sea 🌊 from melting Antarctic glaciers could affect krill habitat, the new study examines the effects of a warmer ocean and a decline in sea 🌊 ice 🧊 on these small crustaceans 🦞 she said.
Understanding the effects of climate change on krill could help scientists 👨‍🔬 understand what might be in store for the entire Antarctic marine food web🥘 Piñones said.