Wednesday, September 11, 2013

Global Imprint of Climate Change on Marine Life

Global distribution and regional location of marine ecological climate-impact studies. Observed responses (n=1,735) of marine organisms to climate change from 208 single- and multispecies studies showing responses that are consistent with climate change (blue n=1,092), opposite to those expected (red n=225) or are equivocal (yellow n=418). Each circle represents the centre of a study area. Where points fall on land, it is because they are centroids of distribution that surround an island or peninsula. Pie charts show the proportions within regions bounded by red squares and in the Mediterranean Sea; numbers indicate the total (consistent, opposite plus equivocal) observations within each region.
An NCEAS working group ... has an important new paper out in Nature Climate Change.

 We found that all organisms for which data are available (including marine mammals, sea birds, turtles, fishes, sharks, squid, plankton, invertebrates, mangroves, seagrasses, and seaweeds) in general have responded as predicted to ocean warming.  Responses include shifts in the geographic distribution of populations (to higher, cooler latitudes), change in phenology, organismal fitness, population abundance, and community structure.

Global Imprint of Climate Change on Marine Life
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