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https://hdl.handle.net/2440/68985
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Type: | Journal article |
Title: | Seaweed communities in retreat from ocean warming |
Author: | Wernberg-Moller, T. Russell, B. Thomsen, M. Gurgel, C. Bradshaw, C. Poloczanska, E. Connell, S. |
Citation: | Current Biology, 2011; 21(21):1828-1832 |
Publisher: | Dell Press |
Issue Date: | 2011 |
ISSN: | 0960-9822 1879-0445 |
Statement of Responsibility: | Thomas Wernberg, Bayden D. Russell, Mads S. Thomsen, C. Frederico D. Gurgel, Corey J.A. Bradshaw, Elvira S. Poloczanska and Sean D. Connell |
Abstract: | In recent decades, global climate change [1] has caused profound biological changes across the planet [2-6]. However, there is a great disparity in the strength of evidence among different ecosystems and between hemispheres: changes on land have been well documented through long-term studies, but similar direct evidence for impacts of warming is virtually absent from the oceans [3, 7], where only a few studies on individual species of intertidal invertebrates, plankton, and commercially important fish in the North Atlantic and North Pacific exist. This disparity of evidence is precarious for biological conservation because of the critical role of the marine realm in regulating the Earth's environmental and ecological functions, and the associated socioeconomic well-being of humans [8]. We interrogated a database of >20,000 herbarium records of macroalgae collected in Australia since the 1940s and documented changes in communities and geographical distribution limits in both the Indian and Pacific Oceans, consistent with rapid warming over the past five decades [9, 10]. We show that continued warming might drive potentially hundreds of species toward and beyond the edge of the Australian continent where sustained retreat is impossible. The potential for global extinctions is profound considering the many endemic seaweeds and seaweed-dependent marine organisms in temperate Australia. |
Keywords: | Seaweed Ecosystem Databases, Factual Australia Indian Ocean Pacific Ocean Climate Change Aquatic Organisms |
Rights: | © 2011 Elsevier Ltd All rights reserved |
DOI: | 10.1016/j.cub.2011.09.028 |
Published version: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2011.09.028 |
Appears in Collections: | Aurora harvest 5 Earth and Environmental Sciences publications Environment Institute Leaders publications Environment Institute publications |
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