Living on the Edge of Two Changing Worlds: Forecasting the Responses of Rocky Intertidal Ecosystems to Climate Change

Abstract

ANRV292-ES37-14 ARI

Unique genetic variation at a species' rear edge is under threat from global climate change

“…Many marine species are believed to exist at, or close to, their thermal tolerance limits [17], and thus are considered good early indicators of the overall effects of climate change on species' distributional ranges [18]. Unlike many terrestrial species, intertidal taxa generally lack the scope for altitudinal migration to counter the effects of warming climate and, on the whole, their ranges appear to be following the same patterns of poleward expansions in distribution as observed in terrestrial species [15,19]. A recent study on intertidal algae, however, highlighted the difficulties in making generalizations concerning range shifts, particularly when comparing warm-and cold-adapted species, since warm-water species that exhibited a range shift all expanded northwards, while cold-tolerant species displayed no consistent pattern [20].…”

Protocolos para o monitoramento de habitats bentônicos costeiros - Rede de Monitoramento de Habitat Bentônicos Costeiros - ReBentos

“…Os ecossistemas costeiros estão entre os mais vulneráveis às alterações provocadas pelas mudanças climáticas, destacando-se as regiões do mediolitoral que têm demonstrado mudanças biogeográficas mais rápidas (Barry et al, 1995;Helmuth et al, 2006) do que as encontradas em ambientes terrestres (Root et al, 2003). Monitoramentos de longo prazo têm revelado que os limites de distribuição da biota do mediolitoral de substratos consolidados têm avançado em direção aos polos em um ritmo superior a 50 km por década (Rickets et al, 1985;Southward et al, 1995;Helmuth et al, 2006).…”

Detection and Attribution of Observed Impacts

“…Globally, the ranges of many rocky shore species have shifted up to 50 km per decade, much faster than most recorded shifts of terrestrial species (Helmuth et al, 2006;Poloczanska et al, 2013; see also Box 18-3). However, distinguishing the response of these communities to climate change from those due to other natural and anthropogenic causes is challenging.…”

“…However, distinguishing the response of these communities to climate change from those due to other natural and anthropogenic causes is challenging. Weak warming, overriding effects of confounding factors, or biogeographic barriers can explain the fact that geographical distribution of some species did not change over the past decades (Helmuth et al, 2002(Helmuth et al, , 2006Rivadeneira and Fernández, 2005;Poloczanska et al, 2011).…”