Climate change impacts the flow of marine species

A study recently published by the University of Auckland (New Zealand) demonstrated that marine species have changed their distribution area far from the equator under the direct impact of climate change. This trend occurs in all species and on a global scale.

Towards the end of this century, organisms living on the ocean floor faced increasing dangers from ocean warming. (Photo: thiennhien.net) According to climate warming projections, the number of species has decreased in the equator and increased in the subtropics since the 1950s. This is the general state of all 48,661 species and they are divided into sub-species. seabed (benthic) and in open water (floating fish area), fish, molluscs and crustaceans. Results from a study led by the University of Auckland (New Zealand) show that open water marine species in the Northern Hemisphere tend to move more towards the North Pole than benthic species. Meanwhile, species in the southern hemisphere do not have a similar wave of movement. The reason is that the warming ocean in the Northern Hemisphere is more pronounced than the Southern Hemisphere. In the past, the tropics were always considered to be stable and have an ideal temperature for reproduction because so many species of organisms appear there. Now the defined tropics are not so stable and are becoming too hot for many species. This study is the result of doctoral work by lead author Chhaya Chaudhary at the University of Auckland and builds on a series of studies in a joint research group that delineates documents and data on taxonomy groups. Specifically, these include crustaceans, fish and worms. The data is taken from the Ocean Biodiversity Information System (OBIS), a free accessible online world database established by Professor Mark Costello of the University as part of the marine biology investigation, a global marine exploration program from 2000 to 2010. Recorded information about the time and location of species was compiled into latitude ranges and a statistical model was used. Use to calculate variables in sampling. Last year, Professor Costello co-authored a study that found that although marine biodiversity escalated and peaked at the equator during the last ice age 20,000 years ago, it was pulled flat before the status quo. global warming in the industrial era. This study uses fossil records of marine plankton buried in deep-sea sediments to track changes in species diversity over thousands of years. The latest research on a decade scale shows that this flat drag has continued over the past century, and that the number of species is now decreasing at the equator. This research, and other work underway, shows that the number of marine species declines when the average annual seawater temperature is above 20 to 25 degrees Celsius (varies with different species. ). As one of the lead authors of the current International Commission on Climate Change (IPCC) 6th Assessment Report, Professor Costello argues that these findings are of great significance. “Our work shows that man-made climate change affects marine biodiversity on a global scale across all species. Climate change is already here for us and is happening at an ever-increasing rate. We can predict general trends in species diversity, but due to the complexity of ecological interactions, it is currently unclear how rich marine life and fisheries will be. how to change according to climate change ”, said Professor Costello. According to a new study published in the journal Nature Climate Change, the rate of climate change in the depths of the world’s oceans could be seven times higher than current levels in the second half of this century even if greenhouse gas emissions have been significantly reduced. Different global warming at different depths has a major impact on the wildlife of the oceans, causing disconnections as species that rely on each other for survival are forced to move. Professor Anthony Richardson of the University of Queensland and CSIRO, who is also one of the 10 authors of the study, pointed out: “What really worries us is that when we move down deep in the ocean, the climate velocity moves downwards. transfer at different speeds ”. This can create a disconnection with species that depend on organic organisms of different layers. Tuna, for example, live in the middle layer with a depth of 200 – 1000 m, but they need plankton near the sea surface. Professor Richardson emphasized that the results of the study are of concern, with climatic speeds varying depending on the depth of the ocean and the tendency for species to move to be uneven. This may mean marine protected areas established to protect species or habitats may no longer work as species move out of protected areas into unprotected areas.