Bhubaneswar: More than 45,000 marine species around the world are at risk due global warming and other factors including pollution and fishing, revealed a study.

The study has been published in the Ecological Society of America (ESA) journal and released on Wednesday.

A team of researchers at the University of Queensland developed a framework for identifying the most vulnerable marine species by reviewing marine biology literature and categorising a wide range of threats that more than 45,000 species are facing in the sea.

Dr. Nathalie Butt from the University of Queensland School of Earth and Environmental Sciences said that the study has found most endangered marine species.

According to the researcher, molluscs, corals, and echinoderms – hard or spiny creatures such sea urchins – are 'facing threats due to fishing and bycatch, pollution and climate change.

Corals and other sessile invertebrates, organisms without a backbone that are attached to the reef, were the most impacted by water conditions such as acidity and salinity, ranging between 0.4 and 0.5, on a 0 to 1 scale, a news agency reported.

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"Increasing water temperature is related to the increasing acidity of the ocean. So, it's quite difficult for them (creatures with shell structures) to form those structures under increasing acidity," Dr. Butt was quoted as saying.

Flowerpot corals found in the Pacific and Indian Oceans and the Persian Sea are affected by climate change-related stressors, such as ocean acidification.

The marine experts also discovered that starfish, sea snails and flying fish are increasingly vulnerable to climate change-related stressors, all of which can be found in oceans around the world.

Meanwhile larger species in the sea are also affected due to habitat destruction and fishing practices. The aquatic animals like dolphins, turtles, sharks and seabirds have sensitivity level between 0.5 and 0.6 to fishing activities.

It was found that inorganic pollution and water temperature impacted the largest number of species, affecting 31% and 27% of all 45,000 species respectively.

"Roughy fishes are quite vulnerable to the effects of pollution, including organic, inorganic, and nutrient pollution, which was quite a surprise, as they live at a range of depths, including deep sea, which demonstrates how far the effects of pollution are spreading," the agency quoted Dr. Butt as saying.

"The environment is changing so quickly because of human actions, and we need to use all information available to help us assess which animals are at risk and why, and to help develop the most appropriate ways to protect and manage them – that’s where this framework comes in,” she said.

She termed the framework developed by the researchers as 'unique' as it has used biological characteristics and traits of marine species to assess vulnerability and threats faced by the creatures.

Fellow researcher Associate Professor Carissa Klein said that the study will help people to take decision about how to allocate and prioritize their resources to protect the vulnerable marine species.

"Conservationists can use the framework to prioritize resources for their protection and determine which management actions would best protect particular species or groups of species and where," Dr Klein said.