Warming's hidden danger

Finally, many of the vulnerable marine creatures play a significant role as oxygen producers for the planetary atmosphere.

The effect of their removal or reduction on our ability to breathe is not yet understood, but some researchers fear it could reduce the habitable biosphere.

About 251 million years ago the Great Dying at the end of the Permian period took out 90 per cent of all sea life and 75 per cent of all land species. The causes are still debatable, but high carbon dioxide levels released in an extreme episode of volcanism in Siberia are one explanation. This may have produced acidic, oxygen-less oceans. Not long after, fungi were the dominant life form on the planet, dining on the carcasses.

Today the scientific evidence clearly indicates the surface oceans are already acidifying and the effects of this can be seen in corals and other organisms.

Australia, with the world's largest coral reef and the $5 billion industry and 60,000 jobs that hang off it, is also next to the Southern Ocean whose chilly waters provide earth's main mechanism for pumping carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere. So this country has a larger stake in this phenomenon than others and should be putting maximum scientific effort into understanding it. It is not a trivial issue for any government or nation.

People did not believe the melting icecaps idea a few years ago but, if television has performed one good deed, it has been to bring the reality of polar dissolution into a billion living rooms. Finding out whether the burning of fossil fuels is killing sea life and how this will affect all life on earth is even more important and urgent.