Researchers from UC San Diego’s Scripps Institution of Oceanography have issued a warning about accelerating oxygen depletion in aquatic systems globally. The study, led by postdoctoral scholar Erica Ferrer and senior author Lisa Levin, examines aquatic deoxygenation—the loss of dissolved oxygen from oceans, coastal waters, rivers, lakes and streams—and its interaction with major planetary boundaries.
The research argues that declining oxygen levels should be formally recognized as a critical planetary boundary alongside eight other established environmental processes tracked by the Planetary Boundaries framework. These existing boundaries include climate change, ocean acidification, biodiversity loss, and biogeochemical flows. The framework, originally introduced in 2009, identifies essential Earth system processes and monitors how human activities push them beyond safe conditions.
Three primary factors are driving aquatic deoxygenation: human-caused warming, excessive nutrient pollution, and changes in water movement and ventilation patterns. As oxygen concentrations fall, the consequences ripple through aquatic ecosystems. The decline disrupts biological and chemical processes that regulate Earth’s climate and threatens organisms throughout food webs, from microscopic life to large fish and sharks. Marine mammals that breathe air at the surface are also vulnerable, as oxygen loss can reduce or relocate their food sources and damage critical habitats.
Ferrer and Levin developed the review concept following their participation at COP25, the 2019 United Nations Climate Change Conference in Madrid. They emphasize the importance of examining aquatic oxygen loss within a broader context of interconnected planetary stressors rather than in isolation. According to Ferrer, incorporating aquatic deoxygenation into the Planetary Boundaries framework will improve understanding of its effects on overall Earth system stability and biodiversity maintenance.
The study was published in Limnology and Oceanography on June 30, 2026, with support from the National Science Foundation and multiple University of California institutions. The research team included contributions from scientists at UCLA, the Institut de Physique du Globe de Paris, and Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.
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