Blog post by PhD Student Jackson Chu. Originally posted on Wiring the Abyss 2014 Expedition portal

An important part of climate change research is measuring and predicting the magnitude of ecosystem response. The northeast Pacific is a global hotspot for future oxygen loss driven by climate change. Overall oxygen content in the oceans will drop if sea surface temperatures continue to rise because warmer sea water holds less oxygen. If oxygen levels drop too low (hypoxia), animals will have to migrate, adapt or die – but how do you measure these thresholds for animal life?

Part of our ongoing ecological research on the impacts of oxygen loss on marine...