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Global warming is changing marine species, Plymouth scientists find
Topic Started: 4 Aug 2013, 11:58 PM (28 Views)
skibboy
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Global warming is changing marine species, Plymouth scientists find

Sunday, August 04
By SAM BLACKLEDGE

GLOBAL warming is causing a “widespread shift” in the behaviour of marine species in the world’s oceans, according to new research by a city team.

Scientists at Plymouth University were involved in putting together a report, entitled Global Imprint of Climate Change on Marine Life, which found that warming oceans are causing marine species to change breeding times and move quicker than expected.

The findings could have “substantial consequences” for the broader marine landscape, and will form part of the Intergovernmental Panel for Climate Change Assessment Report, due for publication next year.

Professor Camille Parmesan, of Plymouth University’s marine institute, said: “This is the first comprehensive documentation of what is happening in our marine systems in relation to climate change.

“What it reveals is that the changes that are occurring on land are being matched by the oceans. And far from being a buffer and displaying more minor changes, what we’re seeing is a far stronger response from the oceans.”

The study was undertaken by scientists at 17 institutions across the world including the University of Queensland, Aberystwyth University and the Scottish Association for Marine Science (SAMS).

The three-year research project, funded by the National Centre for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis in California, has shown “widespread systemic shifts” in measures such as distribution of species and phenology – the timing of nature’s calendar – on a scale comparable to or greater than those observed on land.

The research team assembled a database of 1,735 changes in marine life from the global peer-reviewed literature which helped them investigate impacts of climate change.

The team found that 81 per cent of changes were in a direction consistent with climate change.

The evidence showed that the leading edge or “front line’” of some marine species, such as phytoplankton, zooplankton and bony fish, is moving towards the poles at an average rate of 72km per decade, which is considerably faster than the terrestrial average of 6km per decade – despite the fact that sea surface temperatures are warming three times slower than land temperatures.

They also found that spring phenology in the oceans had advanced by more than four days, nearly twice the figure for phenological advancement on land.

Professor Mike Burrows at SAMS said: “Most of the effects we saw were as expected from changes in climate. So, most shifts in the distributions of, say, fishes and corals, were towards the poles, and most events in springtime, like spawning, were earlier.”

Dr Pippa Moore, lecturer in aquatic biology at Aberystwyth University, said: “Our research has shown that a wide range of marine organisms, which inhabit the intertidal to the deep-sea, and are found from the poles to the tropics, have responded to recent climate change by changing their distribution, phenology or demography.

“These results highlight the urgent need for governments around the globe to develop adaptive management plans to ensure the continued sustainability of the world’s oceans and the goods and services they provide to human society.”

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