Abstract
Climate change involves shifts in environmental conditions which will affect the distribution and biological performance of species. Global patterns of marine biodiversity are strongly driven by ocean temperature. Rising ocean temperatures, in combination with other climate changes and human pressures, will have both direct and indirect effects on marine species, and there will be both “winners” and “losers.” On a global scale, biological communities and interactions within them will change as physiological demands increase and some species replace others. On a local scale, impacts of climate change on marine biodiversity will be greatest when foundation species are affected because the effects will cascade through associated communities within and between trophic levels. In many cases, climate change will reduce the resilience of marine communities to other human pressures. It is therefore important that effects of climate change on marine biodiversity are understood in combination with multiple stressors.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Cheung WWL, Lam VWY, Sarmiento JL, Kearney K, Watson R, Pauly D (2009) Projecting global marine biodiversity impacts under climate change scenarios. Fish Fish 10:235–251
Hendriks IE, Duarte CM, Álvarez M (2010) Vulnerability of marine biodiversity to ocean acidification: a meta-analysis. Estuar Coast Shelf Sci 86:157–164
Hoegh-Guldberg O, Bruno JF (2010) The impact of climate change on the world’s marine ecosystems. Science 328:1523–1528
Kordas RL, Harley CDG, O’Connor MI (2011) Community ecology in a warming world: the influence of temperature on interspecific interactions in marine systems. J Exp Mar Biol Ecol 400:218–226
Ling S (2008) Range expansion of a habitat-modifying species leads to loss of taxonomic diversity: a new and impoverished reef state. Oecologia 156:883–894
Mora C, Tittensor DP, Adl S, Simpson AGB, Worm B (2011) How many species are there on Earth and in the ocean? PLoS Biol 9:e1001127
Russell BD, Thompson J-AI, Falkenberg LJ, Connell SD (2009) Synergistic effects of climate change and local stressors: CO2 and nutrient-driven change in subtidal rocky habitats. Glob Chang Biol 15:2153–2162
Russell BD, Harley CDG, Wernberg T, Mieszkowska N, Widdicombe S, Hall-Spencer JM, Connell SD (2012) Predicting ecosystem shifts requires new approaches that integrate the effects of climate change across entire systems. Biol Lett 8:164–166
Sunday JM, Bates AE, Dulvy NK (2012) Thermal tolerance and the global redistribution of animals. Nat Clim Change. doi:10.1038/NCLIMATE1539
Thomsen MS, Wernberg T, Altieri A, Tuya F, Gulbransen D, McGlathery KJ, Holmer M, Silliman BR (2010) Habitat cascades: the conceptual context and global relevance of facilitation cascades via habitat formation and modification. Integr Comp Biol 50:158–175
Tittensor DP, Mora C, Jetz W, Lotze HK, Ricard D, Berghe EV, Worm B (2010) Global patterns and predictors of marine biodiversity across taxa. Nature 466:1098–1101
Wernberg T, Thomsen MS, Tuya F, Kendrick GA, Staehr PA, Toohey BD (2010) Decreasing resilience of kelp beds along a latitudinal temperature gradient: potential implications for a warmer future. Ecol Lett 13:685–694
Wernberg T, Russell BD, Moore PJ, Ling SD, Smale DA, Campbell A, Coleman MA, Steinberg PD, Kendrick GA, Connell SD (2011) Impacts of climate change in a global hotspot for temperate marine biodiversity and ocean warming. J Exp Mar Biol Ecol 400:7–16
Wernberg T, Smale DA, Tuya F, Thomsen MS, Langlois TJ, de Bettignies T, Bennett S, Rousseaux CS (2013) An extreme climatic event alters marine ecosystem structure in a global biodiversity hotspot. Nat Clim Change 3:78–82
Additional Recommended Reading
Doney SC, Ruckelshaus M, Emmett Duffy J, Barry JP, Chan F, English CA, Galindo HM, Grebmeier JM, Hollowed AB, Knowlton N, Polovina J, Rabalais NN, Sydeman WJ, Talley LD (2012) Climate change impacts on marine ecosystems. Ann Rev Mar Sci 4:11–37
Acknowledgments
TW and SDC were supported by Fellowships from the Australian Research Council.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2014 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht
About this entry
Cite this entry
Wernberg, T., Russell, B.D., Thomsen, M.S., Connell, S.D. (2014). Marine Biodiversity and Climate Change. In: Freedman, B. (eds) Global Environmental Change. Handbook of Global Environmental Pollution, vol 1. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-5784-4_80
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-5784-4_80
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht
Print ISBN: 978-94-007-5783-7
Online ISBN: 978-94-007-5784-4
eBook Packages: Earth and Environmental ScienceReference Module Physical and Materials ScienceReference Module Earth and Environmental Sciences