A climate-driven functional inversion of connected marine ecosystems
Sustainably managing natural resources under climate change requires understanding how species distribution shifts can impact ecosystem structure and functioning. While numerous studies have documented changes in species' distributions and abundances in response to warming [1, 2], the consequen...
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ftjamescook:oai:researchonline.jcu.edu.au:56489 2024-02-11T10:06:33+01:00 A climate-driven functional inversion of connected marine ecosystems McLean, Matthew Mouillot, David Lindegren, Martin Engelhard, Georg Villéger, Sébastien Marchal, Paul Brind'Amour, Anik Auber, Arnaud 2018 application/pdf https://researchonline.jcu.edu.au/56489/1/56489_McLean_et_al_2018.pdf unknown Elsevier https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2018.09.050 https://researchonline.jcu.edu.au/56489/ https://researchonline.jcu.edu.au/56489/1/56489_McLean_et_al_2018.pdf McLean, Matthew, Mouillot, David, Lindegren, Martin, Engelhard, Georg, Villéger, Sébastien, Marchal, Paul, Brind'Amour, Anik, and Auber, Arnaud (2018) A climate-driven functional inversion of connected marine ecosystems. Current Biology, 28 (22). pp. 3654-3660. restricted Article PeerReviewed 2018 ftjamescook https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2018.09.050 2024-01-22T23:43:01Z Sustainably managing natural resources under climate change requires understanding how species distribution shifts can impact ecosystem structure and functioning. While numerous studies have documented changes in species' distributions and abundances in response to warming [1, 2], the consequences for the functional structure of ecosystems (i.e., composition of species' functional traits) have received less attention. Here, using thirty years of fish monitoring, we show that two connected North Atlantic ecosystems (E. English Channel and S. North Sea) underwent a rapid shift in functional structure triggered by a climate oscillation to a prevailing warm-phase in the late-1990s. Using time-lag-based causality analyses, we found that rapid warming drove pelagic fishes with r-selected life history traits (e.g., low age and size at maturity, small offspring, low trophic level) to shift abruptly northward from one ecosystem to the other, causing an inversion in functional structure between the two connected ecosystems. While we observed only a one-year time-lag between the climate oscillation and the functional shift, indicating rapid responses to a changing environment, historical overfishing likely rendered these ecosystems susceptible to climatic stress [3], and declining fishing in the North Sea may have exacerbated the shift. This shift likely had major consequences for ecosystem functioning due to potential changes in biomass turnover, nutrient cycling, and benthic-pelagic coupling [4-6 ]. Under ongoing warming, climate oscillations and extreme warming events may increase in frequency and severity [7, 8 ], which could trigger functional shifts with profound consequences for ecosystem functioning and services. Article in Journal/Newspaper North Atlantic James Cook University, Australia: ResearchOnline@JCU Current Biology 28 22 3654 3660.e3 |
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James Cook University, Australia: ResearchOnline@JCU |
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ftjamescook |
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description |
Sustainably managing natural resources under climate change requires understanding how species distribution shifts can impact ecosystem structure and functioning. While numerous studies have documented changes in species' distributions and abundances in response to warming [1, 2], the consequences for the functional structure of ecosystems (i.e., composition of species' functional traits) have received less attention. Here, using thirty years of fish monitoring, we show that two connected North Atlantic ecosystems (E. English Channel and S. North Sea) underwent a rapid shift in functional structure triggered by a climate oscillation to a prevailing warm-phase in the late-1990s. Using time-lag-based causality analyses, we found that rapid warming drove pelagic fishes with r-selected life history traits (e.g., low age and size at maturity, small offspring, low trophic level) to shift abruptly northward from one ecosystem to the other, causing an inversion in functional structure between the two connected ecosystems. While we observed only a one-year time-lag between the climate oscillation and the functional shift, indicating rapid responses to a changing environment, historical overfishing likely rendered these ecosystems susceptible to climatic stress [3], and declining fishing in the North Sea may have exacerbated the shift. This shift likely had major consequences for ecosystem functioning due to potential changes in biomass turnover, nutrient cycling, and benthic-pelagic coupling [4-6 ]. Under ongoing warming, climate oscillations and extreme warming events may increase in frequency and severity [7, 8 ], which could trigger functional shifts with profound consequences for ecosystem functioning and services. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
McLean, Matthew Mouillot, David Lindegren, Martin Engelhard, Georg Villéger, Sébastien Marchal, Paul Brind'Amour, Anik Auber, Arnaud |
spellingShingle |
McLean, Matthew Mouillot, David Lindegren, Martin Engelhard, Georg Villéger, Sébastien Marchal, Paul Brind'Amour, Anik Auber, Arnaud A climate-driven functional inversion of connected marine ecosystems |
author_facet |
McLean, Matthew Mouillot, David Lindegren, Martin Engelhard, Georg Villéger, Sébastien Marchal, Paul Brind'Amour, Anik Auber, Arnaud |
author_sort |
McLean, Matthew |
title |
A climate-driven functional inversion of connected marine ecosystems |
title_short |
A climate-driven functional inversion of connected marine ecosystems |
title_full |
A climate-driven functional inversion of connected marine ecosystems |
title_fullStr |
A climate-driven functional inversion of connected marine ecosystems |
title_full_unstemmed |
A climate-driven functional inversion of connected marine ecosystems |
title_sort |
climate-driven functional inversion of connected marine ecosystems |
publisher |
Elsevier |
publishDate |
2018 |
url |
https://researchonline.jcu.edu.au/56489/1/56489_McLean_et_al_2018.pdf |
genre |
North Atlantic |
genre_facet |
North Atlantic |
op_relation |
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2018.09.050 https://researchonline.jcu.edu.au/56489/ https://researchonline.jcu.edu.au/56489/1/56489_McLean_et_al_2018.pdf McLean, Matthew, Mouillot, David, Lindegren, Martin, Engelhard, Georg, Villéger, Sébastien, Marchal, Paul, Brind'Amour, Anik, and Auber, Arnaud (2018) A climate-driven functional inversion of connected marine ecosystems. Current Biology, 28 (22). pp. 3654-3660. |
op_rights |
restricted |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2018.09.050 |
container_title |
Current Biology |
container_volume |
28 |
container_issue |
22 |
container_start_page |
3654 |
op_container_end_page |
3660.e3 |
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1790604329687711744 |