Climate Impacts on Marine Biodiversity across Space and Time

Dear Colleagues,

Over the last few decades, global warming has accelerated both the rate and magnitude of changes observed in all functional units of the Earth system, from the physical and chemical characteristics and from lower to higher levels. Projected modifications in biodiversity are expected to alter the structure and functioning of ecosystems, with significant consequences for human societies.

Many studies have suggested that global change, including climate change, overfishing, eutrophication, colonization by non-indigenous species, or habitat destruction, influences the marine species abundance, community structure, phenology, species range, and marine ecosystem functioning, with putative consequences on their overall resilience: the marine Living Planet Index reveals a strong decline (>50% since 1970) in marine species, such as mammals, fish, or reptile species. Although a small amount of warming is expected to have a minor influence on marine biodiversity, the loss in biodiversity would be high for a pronounced warming, with alterations comparable to the changes that took place between the Last Glacial Maximum and today. Biodiversity loss is a consequence of drivers acting either alone or in synergy, however, and it still remains challenging to assess the spatial and temporal scales at which multiple stressors operates: marine ecosystems are highly complex and dynamic ecosystems, and their response to stress often occurs in a nonlinear way. The identification and characterisation of the processes and mechanisms that drive alterations of marine biodiversity therefore require further understanding in order to better anticipate the future effects of climate change.

This Special Issue of Climate aims to investigate the impacts of climate and environmental changes on marine species and possible cascading effects from lower to higher trophic levels. We welcome original research, reviews, method papers, and commentaries providing experimental evidence of these changes, as well as modelling studies that aim to predict the future impacts of climate change on marine biodiversity.

Dr. Eric Goberville
Guest Editor

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