'Our study is a first step to finding out how vulnerable this ocean habitat may be to climate warming.' This is a vital factor that determines water quality in the ocean and numerous aquatic species depend on it to survive.ĭr Crichton continued: 'The rich variety of twilight zone life evolved in the last few million years, when ocean waters had cooled enough to act rather like a fridge, preserving the food for longer, and improving conditions allowing life to thrive. Meanwhile, experts also found that dissolved oxygen availability may also plummet as temperatures rise over the years. 'We found that the twilight zone was not always a rich habitat full of life.' 'We looked at two warm periods in the Earth’s past, about 50 million years ago and 15 million years ago,' said Professor Paul Pearson of Cardiff University, who led the research. Pictured: Stichopathes coral discovered in 2018 by Oxford University's marine team The pitch dark twilight zone continues to be a mysterious place for scientists.
This was primarily because warmer conditions catalysed the rate at which bacteria broke this matter down. Research found that high temperatures were bad news for twilight species as they appeared to receive less food from the surface. It were these sediments that researchers used to understand w hat life can exist within the twilight zone during a warm period. If it is not consumed, the snow may instead pile up on the seafloor forming sediments and even fossils over the years.
This matter - often referred to as 'marine snow' - is usually a mix of dead plankton, fish scales and even faeces that can serve as food to the species that lurk here. 'Even a low-emissions future may have a significant impact, but that would be far less severe than medium- and high-emissions scenarios.'ĭespite being pitch dark, the twilight zone is filled with numerous mystifying creatures in addition to enormous masses of organic matter. 'Unless we rapidly reduce greenhouse gas emissions, this could lead to the disappearance or extinction of much twilight zone life within 150 years, with effects spanning millennia thereafter.
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