Loss Of Marine Species Likely 2X That Of Life On Land; Heat The Main Driver Of Migration/Extinction
Sea creatures, especially those that live in shallower water near the coasts, are much more vulnerable to global warming than land animals, new research shows. The scientists found that local populations of marine animals are disappearing at double the rate of land-based species.
That's because marine animals like fish, crabs and lobster are already more likely to be living near the threshold of life-threatening temperatures, and because in the ocean, there are fewer places to hide from extreme heat, said Malin Pinsky, lead author of a new study published Wednesday in the journal Nature. "These results are stunning, in part because the impacts of climate change on ocean life were virtually ignored just a decade ago," said Pinsky, an ocean researcher at Rutgers University. The study took a close look at cold-blooded marine species whose body temperatures are dependent on their surroundings.
Some fish can move poleward to cooler waters, but for others, those thermal refuges will be inaccessible because the cooler areas are too far away or because shallow water habitat along continental shelves is not continuous. That can affect people in developing countries that depend heavily on fish as a daily source of food.
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The new paper also reflects how scientists are thinking about climate change in new ways. "What's going to do the damage to fish in the ocean are extreme events, when temperatures spike for a month or two. Even if the temperatures return to normal, the damage is done for the next 10 years," Payne said. "Many of the changes will happen quickly and suddenly in response to marine heat waves, and you just don't come back from these things quickly, especially long-lived species. "In the tropics, there are no species from even hotter areas to come in. Some parts of the ocean will become uninhabitable, an ocean desert."
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https://insideclimatenews.org/news/24042019/climate-change-fish-local-extinction-marine-species-hit-harder-land-animals-study-nature