Climate change is forcing marine animals to shift habitat
DOI: 10.1063/PT.5.029180
New York Times : Because of global warming, marine species are moving away from the equator and toward the poles, and at a rate 10 times as fast as land species. To project how ocean animals’ habitat ranges are changing, an international team of researchers has been recording the warmest and coldest temperatures that some 13 000 species of fish, invertebrates, and other marine organisms can tolerate. They then used computer modeling to determine how the oceans’ ecosystems may get reshuffled over the coming decades as ocean waters warm. Such projections are complicated by the fact that temperature is not the only constraint; habitat requirements and competition among species also factor in. Any changes in marine biodiversity could have severe implications for human populations that rely on seafood as a major source of nutrition.
