Climate-driven range expansion of a critically endangered top predator in northeast Atlantic waters
Global climate change is driving rapid distribution shifts in marine ecosystems; these are well established for lower trophic levels, but are harder to quantify for migratory top predators. By analysing a 25-year sightings-based dataset, we found evidence for rapid northwards range expansion of the...
| Published in: | Biology Letters |
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| Main Authors: | , , , , |
| Format: | Article in Journal/Newspaper |
| Language: | unknown |
| Published: |
2007
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://eprints.soton.ac.uk/49400/ http://www.journals.royalsoc.ac.uk/content/p074211474031964/ |
| Summary: | Global climate change is driving rapid distribution shifts in marine ecosystems; these are well established for lower trophic levels, but are harder to quantify for migratory top predators. By analysing a 25-year sightings-based dataset, we found evidence for rapid northwards range expansion of the critically endangered Balearic shearwater Puffinus mauretanicus in northeast Atlantic waters. A 0.6°C sea surface temperature increase in the mid-1990s is interpreted as an underlying controlling factor, while simultaneous northward shifts of plankton and prey fish species suggests a strong bottom-up control. Our results have important conservation implications and provide new evidence for climate-driven regime shift in Atlantic ecosystems. |
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