Tiny shrimp could influence global climate changes | John Abraham

Researchers find the daily migrations of brine shrimp is strong enough to mix ocean watersWhen we think of global warming and climate change, most of us ignore the impacts that animals have on the environment. Climate affects animals, but is the reverse true? Can animals affect the climate?I don’t know how to answer that question definitively, but I was fortunate enough to read a very recent paper from a top fluid dynamics research team from Stanford. The team, led by Dr. John Dabiri, is well known for their work on bio-inspired flow. Part of what they study is the influence of living organisms on fluid flow, especially flow of water in the oceans.Ocean dynamics are directly connected to global climate through interactions with the atmosphere. The fact that swimming animals could play a significant role in ocean mixing – an idea that has been almost heretical in oceanography – could therefore have consequences far beyond the immediate waters where the animals reside. Continue reading...