Journal article
Global imprint of climate change on marine life
Nature Climate Change, Vol.3(10), pp.919-925
2013
Abstract
Past meta-analyses of the response of marine organisms to climate change have examined a limited range of locations1, 2, taxonomic groups2, 3, 4 and/or biological responses5, 6. This has precluded a robust overview of the effect of climate change in the global ocean. Here, we synthesized all available studies of the consistency of marine ecological observations with expectations under climate change. This yielded a meta-database of 1,735 marine biological responses for which either regional or global climate change was considered as a driver. Included were instances of marine taxa responding as expected, in a manner inconsistent with expectations, and taxa demonstrating no response. From this database, 81-83% of all observations for distribution, phenology, community composition, abundance, demography and calcification across taxa and ocean basins were consistent with the expected impacts of climate change. Of the species responding to climate change, rates of distribution shifts were, on average, consistent with those required to track ocean surface temperature changes. Conversely, we did not find a relationship between regional shifts in spring phenology and the seasonality of temperature. Rates of observed shifts in species' distributions and phenology are comparable to, or greater, than those for terrestrial systems.
Details
- Title
- Global imprint of climate change on marine life
- Authors
- Elvira S Poloczanska (Author) - CSIRO Marine and Atmospheric ResearchChristopher J Brown (Author) - CSIRO Marine and Atmospheric ResearchWilliam J Sydeman (Author) - Farallon Institute for Advanced Ecosystem Research, United StatesWolfgang Kiessling (Author) - Museum für Naturkunde, GermanyDavid S Schoeman (Author) - University of the Sunshine Coast - Faculty of Science, Health, Education and EngineeringPippa Moore (Author) - Edith Cowan UniversityKeith Brander (Author) - Technical University of Denmark, DenmarkJohn F Bruno (Author) - University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, United StatesLauren B Buckley (Author) - University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, United StatesMichael T Burrows (Author) - Scottish Marine Institute, United KingdomCarlos M Duarte (Author) - Instituto Mediterráneo de Estudios Avanzados, SpainBenjamin S Halpern (Author) - National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis, United StatesJohnna Holding (Author) - University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, United StatesCarrie V Kappel (Author) - National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis, United StatesMary I O'Connor (Author) - University of British Columbia, CanadaJohn M Pandolfi (Author) - University of QueenslandCamille Parmesan (Author) - University of Texas, United StatesFranklin Schwing (Author) - NOAA Fisheries Service, United StatesSarah Ann Thompson (Author) - Farallon Institute for Advanced Ecosystem Research, United StatesAnthony J Richardson (Author) - CSIRO Marine and Atmospheric Research
- Publication details
- Nature Climate Change, Vol.3(10), pp.919-925
- Publisher
- Nature Publishing Group
- Date published
- 2013
- DOI
- 10.1038/nclimate1958
- ISSN
- 1758-678X
- Copyright note
- Copyright © 2013 Macmillan Publishers Limited. All rights reserved.
- Organisation Unit
- School of Science and Engineering - Legacy; University of the Sunshine Coast, Queensland; School of Science, Technology and Engineering
- Language
- English
- Record Identifier
- 99449013702621
- Output Type
- Journal article
Metrics
9 File views/ downloads
1034 Record Views