Global imprint of climate change on marine life (original) (raw)

Responses of Marine Organisms to Climate Change across Oceans

Frontiers in Marine Science, 2016

Climate change is driving changes in the physical and chemical properties of the ocean that have consequences for marine ecosystems. Here, we review evidence for the responses of marine life to recent climate change across ocean regions, from tropical seas to polar oceans. We consider observed changes in calcification rates, demography, abundance, distribution, and phenology of marine species. We draw on a database of observed climate change impacts on marine species, supplemented with evidence in the Fifth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. We discuss factors that limit or facilitate species' responses, such as fishing pressure, the availability of prey, habitat, light and other resources, and dispersal by ocean currents. We find that general trends in species' responses are consistent with expectations from climate change, including shifts in distribution to higher latitudes and to deeper locations, advances in spring phenology, declines in calcification, and increases in the abundance of warm-water species. The volume and type of evidence associated with species responses to climate change is variable across ocean regions and taxonomic groups, with predominance of evidence derived from the heavily-studied north Atlantic Ocean. Most investigations of the impact of climate change being associated with the impacts of changing temperature, with few observations of effects of changing oxygen, wave climate, precipitation (coastal waters), or ocean acidification. Observations of species responses that have been linked to anthropogenic climate change are widespread, but are still lacking for some taxonomic groups (e.g., phytoplankton, benthic invertebrates, marine mammals).

Observed Global Responses of Marine Biogeography, Abundance, and Phenology to Climate Change

MB 123 IPCC WGII AR4 presented the detection of a global fingerprint on natural systems and its attribution to climate change (AR4, Chapter 1, SPM Figure 1), but studies from marine systems were mostly absent. Since AR4, there has been a rapid increase in studies that focus on climate change impacts on marine species, which represents an opportunity to move from more anecdotal evidence to examining and potentially attributing detected biological changes within the ocean to climate change (Section 6.3; Figure MB-1). Recent changes in populations of marine species and the associated shifts in diversity patterns are resulting, at least partly, from climate change-mediated biological responses across ocean regions (robust evidence, high agreement, high confidence; Sections 6.2, 30.5; Table 6-7). Poloczanska et al. (2013) assess a potential pattern in responses of ocean life to recent climate change using a global database of 208 peer-reviewed papers. Observed responses (n = 1735) were recorded from 857 species or assemblages across regions and taxonomic groups, from phytoplankton to marine reptiles and mammals (Figure MB-1). Observations were defined as those where the authors of a particular paper assessed the change in a biological parameter (including distribution, phenology, abundance, demography, or community composition) and, if change occurred, the consistency of the change with that expected under climate change. Studies from the peer-reviewed literature were selected using three criteria: (1) authors inferred or directly tested for trends in biological and climatic variables; (2) authors included data after 1990; and (3) observations spanned at least 19 years, to reduce bias resulting from biological responses to short-term climate variability. The results of this meta-analysis show that climate change has already had widespread impacts on species' distribution, abundance, phenology, and subsequently, species richness and community composition across a broad range of taxonomic groups (plankton to top predators). Of the observations that showed a response in either direction, changes in phenology, distribution and abundance were overwhelmingly (81%) in a direction that was consistent with theoretical responses to climate change (Section 6.2). Knowledge gaps exist, especially in equatorial subregions and the Southern Hemisphere (Figure MB-1). The timing of many biological events (phenology) had an earlier onset. For example, over the last 50 years, spring events shifted earlier for many species with an average advancement of 4.4 ± 0.7 days per decade (mean ± SE) and summer events by 4.4 ± 1.1 days per decade (robust evidence, high agreement, high confidence) (Figure MB-2). Phenological observations included in the study range from shifts in peak abundance of phytoplankton and zooplankton, to reproduction and migration of invertebrates, fishes, and seabirds (Sections 6.3.2, 30.5).

Impacts of Climate Change on Marine Organisms and Ecosystems

Current Biology, 2009

Human activities are releasing gigatonnes of carbon to the Earth's atmosphere annually. Direct consequences of cumulative post-industrial emissions include increasing global temperature, perturbed regional weather patterns, rising sea levels, acidifying oceans, changed nutrient loads and altered ocean circulation. These and other physical consequences are affecting marine biological processes from genes to ecosystems, over scales from rock pools to ocean basins, impacting ecosystem services and threatening human food security. The rates of physical change are unprecedented in some cases. Biological change is likely to be commensurately quick, although the resistance and resilience of organisms and ecosystems is highly variable. Biological changes founded in physiological response manifest as species rangechanges, invasions and extinctions, and ecosystem regime shifts. Given the essential roles that oceans play in planetary function and provision of human sustenance, the grand challenge is to intervene before more tipping points are passed and marine ecosystems follow lessbuffered terrestrial systems further down a spiral of decline. Although ocean bioengineering may alleviate change, this is not without risk. The principal brake to climate change remains reduced CO 2 emissions that marine scientists and custodians of the marine environment can lobby for and contribute to. This review describes present-day climate change, setting it in context with historical change, considers consequences of climate change for marine biological processes now and in to the future, and discusses contributions that marine systems could play in mitigating the impacts of global climate change.

Changes in Marine Biodiversity as an Indicator of Climate Change

Elsevier eBooks, 2009

This chapter was originally published in the book Climate Change. The copy attached is provided by Elsevier for the author's benefit and for the benefit of the author's institution, for non-commercial research, and educational use. This includes without limitation use in instruction at your institution, distribution to specific colleagues, and providing a copy to your institution's administrator. All other uses, reproduction and distribution, including without limitation commercial reprints, selling or licensing copies or access, or posting on open internet sites, your personal or institution's website or repository, are prohibited. For exceptions, permission may be sought for such use through Elsevier's

Climate Change Impacts on Marine Ecosystems

Annual Review of Marine Science, 2012

In marine ecosystems, rising atmospheric CO 2 and climate change are associated with concurrent shifts in temperature, circulation, stratification, nutrient input, oxygen content, and ocean acidification, with potentially wideranging biological effects. Population-level shifts are occurring because of physiological intolerance to new environments, altered dispersal patterns, and changes in species interactions. Together with local climate-driven invasion and extinction, these processes result in altered community structure and diversity, including possible emergence of novel ecosystems. Impacts are particularly striking for the poles and the tropics, because of the sensitivity of polar ecosystems to sea-ice retreat and poleward species migrations as well as the sensitivity of coral-algal symbiosis to minor increases in temperature. Midlatitude upwelling systems, like the California Current, exhibit strong linkages between climate and species distributions, phenology, and demography. Aggregated effects may modify energy and material flows as well as biogeochemical cycles, eventually impacting the overall ecosystem functioning and services upon which people and societies depend.

The impacts of climate change in coastal marine systems

Ecology Letters, 2006

Anthropogenically induced global climate change has profound implications for marine ecosystems and the economic and social systems that depend upon them. The relationship between temperature and individual performance is reasonably well understood, and much climate-related research has focused on potential shifts in distribution and abundance driven directly by temperature. However, recent work has revealed that both abiotic changes and biological responses in the ocean will be substantially more complex. For example, changes in ocean chemistry may be more important than changes in temperature for the performance and survival of many organisms. Ocean circulation, which drives larval transport, will also change, with important consequences for population dynamics. Furthermore, climatic impacts on one or a few ‘leverage species’ may result in sweeping community-level changes. Finally, synergistic effects between climate and other anthropogenic variables, particularly fishing pressure, will likely exacerbate climate-induced changes. Efforts to manage and conserve living marine systems in the face of climate change will require improvements to the existing predictive framework. Key directions for future research include identifying key demographic transitions that influence population dynamics, predicting changes in the community-level impacts of ecologically dominant species, incorporating populations’ ability to evolve (adapt), and understanding the scales over which climate will change and living systems will respond.

Effects of Climate Change on Marine Organisms

American Journal of Climate Change, 2020

Global warming has become a global challenge having dire consequences on different aspects of the environment due to the melting of glaciers, excess carbon dioxide (CO 2), and excess warming of water bodies among others. At a faster pace recently, climate change is affecting the marine environment, causing numerous alterations. Here, we address its consequences and the numerous alterations, which are more vital for researchers and global agencies to advocate more on why it's essential to lessen the impact of climate change. Our review showed that the impacts of climate change are articulated at several stages of the marine ecosystem where it affects the inhabitants and their habitats. In response to climate change (ocean warming) marine species shift their latitudinal range to find suitable conditions leading to the redistribution of species. In addition, we found that growth reduction, sub-optimal behaviors, and reduced immune-competence of marine organisms, are as a result of thermal stress due to climate change. Also, the periodic changes in temperature above or below the optimum have a meditative reproductive effect on marine species, including fish. Finally, we discovered that due to higher water temperatures, several diseases showcase greater virulence in the sense that the marine species become less resistant to these diseases due to stress, increased virulence stimuli, or increased transmission.

Impacts of climate change in a global hotspot for temperate marine biodiversity and ocean warming

Journal of Experimental Marine Biology and Ecology, 2011

Temperate Australia is a global hotspot for marine biodiversity and its waters have experienced well-above global average rates of ocean warming. We review the observed impacts of climate change (e.g. warming, ocean acidification, changes in storm patterns) on subtidal temperate coasts in Australia and assess how these systems are likely to respond to further change. Observed impacts are region specific with the greatest number of species responses attributable to climate change reported in south-eastern Australia, where recent ocean warming has been most pronounced. Here, a decline of giant kelp (Macrocystis pyrifera) and poleward range extension of a key herbivore (sea urchin) and other trophically important reef organisms has occurred. Although, evidence of changes on other coastlines around Australia is limited, we suggest that this is due to a lack of data rather than lack of change. Because of the east-west orientation of the south coast, most of Australia's temperate waters are found within a narrow latitudinal band, where any southward movement of isotherms is likely to affect species across very large areas. Future increases in temperature are likely to result in further range shifts of macroalgae and associated species, with range contractions and local extinctions to be expected for species that have their northern limits along the southern coastline. While there is currently no evidence of changes attributable to non-temperature related climate impacts, potentially due to a lack of long-term observational data, experimental evidence suggests that ocean acidification will result in negative effects on calcifying algae and animals. More importantly, recent experiments suggest the combined effects of climate change and non-climate stressors (overharvesting, reduced water quality) will lower the resilience of temperate marine communities to perturbations (e.g. storms, diseases, and introduced species), many of which are also predicted to increase in frequency and/or severity. Thus climate change is likely to, both by itself and in synergy with other stressors, impose change to southern Australian coastal species, including important habitat-forming algae and the associated ecological functioning of temperate coasts. Management of local and regional-scale stresses may increase the resistance of temperate marine communities to climate stressors and as such, provides an attractive tool for building resilience in temperate systems.