The Pace of Climate Change Predicts Rapid Changes in Marine Ecosystems

 A new study in Science highlights how climate change is affecting marine life.

           Petaluma, California, USA – To survive, many species respond to changes in climate by adapting - e.g. by altering their timing of breeding, spawning and migrating - or by relocating. A new study published today (4 November 2011) in the journal Science finds that life in the seas is likely to be more affected by climate change as much or more than life on land. The study also provides evidence that some of the most diverse marine ecosystems may be particularly vulnerable to risks from ocean warming.

           “With the support of experts from around the world, I wanted to find out how marine species may respond to changes in temperature and compare this with expectations for the much better studied land systems,” explains lead-author Dr. Michael T. Burrows who heads the Department of Ecology at the Scottish Marine Institute. Drawing on five decades of global temperature data from the UK’s prestigious Hadley Centre, the team was able to track the pace of climate change using two key measures: a) geographical shifts in temperature bands and b) seasonal changes in temperature. The team found that while the land has warmed faster than the ocean over the past 50 years, the rates of temperature shifts in the sea are greater than on land. Thus, the effects of climate change on marine life are likely to be as great, or greater, than effects on terrestrial life.

            Co-author Dr. William J. Sydeman of the Farallon Institute in Petaluma, California and member of the California Ocean Protection Council Science Advisory Team adds, “Geographic shifts in temperature bands, known as isotherms, in the sea have outpaced those observed on land. If ocean life is to survive, it must adapt rapidly to keep pace with big habitat changes in the ocean. Therefore, we should not be surprised when we see substantial changes in the whereabouts of marine populations or changes in their timing of breeding or migration dates. Indeed, some species may not be able to cope with the velocity of change, but others will more easily adapt, or will be moved by ocean currents to new locations.”