Climate Change and the Amazon Basin

[stratos]

As everyone is aware, the weather is heating up these days, and looks to be getting more extreme as time goes on. This got me thinking about our hobby, in particular regarding freshwater stingrays from SAmerica. As many of you likely know, millions of years ago there was an inland see in the Amazon basin that was inhabited by salt water breathing stingrays. As sea levels lowered and the inland sea first became a lagoon, then later a lake, then later the Amazon jungled basin as we know it today, the saltwater stingrays adapted and evolved to breath fresh water. Now with climate change we could be looking at this process happening in reverse. The Amazon basin could once again be flooded over time with saltwater. The problem for wildlife is that this change could occur over the span of hundreds rather than thousands/millions of years. Thus, this could really put pressure on the evolutionary ability of the fish we keep - freshwater stingrays as well as all of the other kinds - to adapt and survive. When it comes to climate change, it is either adapt, move away, or die. If you want to see what kind of topographical changes in SAmerica I am referring to check out this video from the 6:40 minute mark to the 8:35 mark.