Seabed life doubles in ocean-warming study

BRITISH ANTARCTIC TERRITORY — A team of British and American scientists investigating the impact of ocean-warming found that the amount of Antarctic seabed life doubled after a temperature increase of 1 degree Celsius.

Researchers placed heated panels on the seabed near the UK's Rothera Research Station on the Antarctic Peninsula, according to a press release from the British Antarctic Survey.

The panels heated the water a few millimeters above them for a year, with researchers checking in and photographing the area periodically.

Researchers found that the amount of sea life there had doubled after a rise of 1-degree Celsius.But after increase of 2 degrees Celsius, only certain species continued to grow. Encrusting bryozoan grew almost twice as fast under under the experimental warmer conditions.

Results of the study were published in the journal, Current Biology.