The Ocean is Losing its Breath: A Marine Scientist’s Call for Action

For years, ESF has celebrated Earth Week, a long-standing tradition where instead of only celebrating Earth day on April 22^nd, the school plans an entire week of events in order to celebrate what defines our campus community: a shared love of the environment.

Now a tradition for staff, faculty, and students alike, this year’s Earth Week had a variety of community clean-ups, sustainability-themed events, and guest speakers.  Amongst these speakers was Dr. Denise Breitburg, a Senior Scientist at the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center in Edgewater, Maryland. As a part of the semester long Adaptive Peaks seminar series, Dr. Brietburg’s lecture, “The Ocean is Losing its Breath,” presented an overview of ocean deoxygenation, its effects, and its solutions.

As the leader of the Global Ocean Oxygen Network, Dr. Breitburg has now invested years into researching various anthropogenic impacts on the marine environment. In the beginning of her talk, Breitburg was very quick to clarify, “I’m also talking about coastal waters like estuaries, and also semi-enclosed seas like the Baltic sea, and not just the open ocean.”

Following her introduction, Dr. Breitburg immediately jumped into her presentation. First, she acknowledged that low oxygen levels do occur naturally in the ocean, however, the current concern amongst marine scientists is that oxygen is now declining beyond areas where these naturally low levels have been traditionally observed.

According to her presentation, ocean oxygen levels globally have dropped 2%. While to many, a 2% decline in oxygen does not sound substantial, declining oxygen levels affect organism of all sizes. Specifically, a lack of oxygen affects an organism’s ability to respirate, photosynthesize, and reproduce. While marine deoxygenation has many causes, Dr. Breitburg stated that the primary sources of this global phenomenon are agriculture, human waste, and the burning of fossil fuels.

When discussing any environmental problem many people are often left wondering what they can do to make a difference, especially communities that are inland and like Syracuse, NY, thousands of miles from the nearest ocean. But, Dr. Brietburg pointed out that “it is not all gloom and doom” and that there are actions that we can take.

Dr. Brietburg presented many different pathways for one to make a difference. She pointed out that while we have developed an incredible understanding of the impact of ocean deoxygenation on the marine environment, there is currently no thorough research on the impact of ocean deoxygenation on us. She then explained that, by extending research on this issue to its impact on human health, we can raise awareness of the severity of this ocean deoxygenation, and gain the attention of politicians and other global forces who have the power to influence this problem. Aside from further research, she recommended changes in various agricultural and aquaculture systems. Furthermore, she said with a serious tone, “carbon capture and sequestration need to be added to the equation.”

During her conclusion, Dr Breitburg stated, “The big challenge is to increase engagement, both with civil society, and policy makers. And to do that, we need to increase and improve our communication on these issues.”

While ESF offers a few courses, and a minor in marine science, it is not often that a marine scientist visits campus. While ocean deoxygenation is like all environmental issues- complicated, Dr. Breitburg instilled hope within her audience, and showed that with further research, communication, and engagement with policy-makers, solutions to this issue are not as far-fetched as they might seem.

Dr. Breitburg directs SERC’s Marine & Estaurine Ecology Lab and thinks up new ways to investigate the impacts of dead zones and acidification on Chesapeake Bay’s fish and invertebrates.  Breitburg has also served as  Participating Faculty, Graduate Program in Marine-Estuarine-Environmental Sciences, University of Maryland System.  She was previously Curator, Marine/Estuarine Ecology, Ichthyology, at The Academy of Natural Sciences, Estuarine Research Center and Adjunct Professor, and Graduate Faculty member within other departments at the University of Maryland.   She earned a BS and MA in Biology from Arizona State University, and a Ph.D. from the University of California, Santa Barbara,  where she looked at Marine and estuarine ecology; relationship between behavior and community ecology; and the behavior and ecology of fishes.

This chapter in the Adaptive Peaks Speaker Series is cross-listed with Women in Scientific and Environmental Professions and is sponsored by Department of Environmental and Forest Biology and ESF Women's Caucus.  As part of the requirements for FOR496/497 Perspectives on Career and Gender, students share responsibility for reporting on presentations in the Women in Scientific and Environmental Professions Speaker Series. The preceding was prepared by Lydia Torres, BS 2019, Environmental Studies, with a concentration in Environment, Communication, and Society and a Minor in Environmental Writing & Rhetoric.