Data from: Rapid climate change increases diversity and homogenizes composition of coastal fish at high latitudes ...

• Main Authors: Siwertsson, Anna, Lindstrøm, Ulf, Aune, Magnus, Berg, Erik, Skarðhamar, Jofrid, Varpe, Øystein, Primicerio, Raul
• Format: Dataset
• Language: English
• Published: Dryad 2024
• Subjects: FOS Biological sciences; Fish; Coastal ecosystems; Northern Hemisphere; Biodiversity; Species diversity; Geographic distribution; Biogeography; Marine fish; Marine; Climate change; Global warming; Arctic; Norway
• Online Access: https://dx.doi.org/10.5061/dryad.zs7h44jhf; https://datadryad.org/stash/dataset/doi:10.5061/dryad.zs7h44jhf

Rapid warming at high latitudes triggers poleward shifts of species’ distributions that impact marine biodiversity. In the open sea, the documented redistributions of fish lead to a borealization of Arctic fauna. A climate driven borealization and increased species diversity at high latitudes is also expected in coastal fish communities, but it has not been previously documented on a large, biogeographic scale. Here, we investigate the impact of temperature change over the last 25 years on fish communities along the coast of Norway. The study area, spanning different ecoclimatic zones between 62° and 71° N, harbors over 200 species of boreal and Arctic fish. Several of these fish species are harvested by coastal and indigenous communities, influencing settlements geography and livelihood. The long-term data on coastal water temperatures and fish species were obtained from monitoring stations and scientific surveys. Water temperature measured at three fixed sampling stations distributed along the coast show ... : Refer to the associated paper for a description of methods. ...