Warming oceans drive massive shifts and restructuring in marine plankton communities
In short: Researchers using species distribution models for 336 phytoplankton and 524 zooplankton species found that global warming is fundamentally reshaping ocean life. Under high emission scenarios, these tiny organisms are shifting their habitats toward the poles at a median rate of 35 km per decade, potentially disrupting vital ecosystem services like carbon sequestration.
The study used an ensemble of models to project how habitat suitability changes for hundreds of species. While warming may increase species richness in many areas, it also triggers a massive replacement of existing communities, with nearly 40% of assemblages in temperate and subpolar regions being replaced by species moving from lower latitudes.
A limitation of this modelling approach is that it focuses on habitat suitability, which may not fully account for complex biological interactions or nutrient availability.
Why it matters: Climate change is fundamentally reorganizing the base of the marine food web through species migrations.
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Sources
- Source: Research: Benedetti et al. (2021). Major restructuring of marine plankton assemblages under global warming. Nature Communications. · cc-by
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