A die-off of sea stars so massive that scientists believe it could be the largest disease epidemic ever observed in wild marine animals has been linked in a new study to global warming. Scientists believe a disease once of little concern has been wiping out the sea star population because of warming waters. Dying sea stars can trigger a cascading ecological collapse as animals that depend on the creatures suffer in turn — and animals the sea stars eat can proliferate in destructive numbers once the sea stars are gone. The population of sea urchins once eaten by healthy sea stars has exploded in areas without the predators. The urchins then gobble up sea kelp, destroying kelp forest ecosystems.

Source: Huffington Post February 02, 2019 11:03 UTC