Global vulnerability of marine mammals to global warming

• Published in: Scientific Reports
• Main Authors: Albouy, Camille, Delattre, Valentine, Donati, Giulia, Frölicher, Thomas, Albouy-Boyer, Severine, Rufino, Marta, Pellissier, Loïc, Mouillot, David, Leprieur, Fabien
• Other Authors: IFREMER - Nantes, Institut Français de Recherche pour l'Exploitation de la Mer (IFREMER), MARine Biodiversity Exploitation and Conservation (UMR MARBEC), Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Université de Montpellier (UM)-Institut Français de Recherche pour l'Exploitation de la Mer (IFREMER)-Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD), Landscape Ecology Group ETH Zürich, Institute of Terrestrial Ecosystems (ITES), Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule - Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zürich (ETH Zürich)- Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule - Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zürich (ETH Zürich), Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research WSL, Climate and Environmental Physics Bern (CEP), Physikalisches Institut Bern, Universität Bern Bern -Universität Bern Bern, Oeschger Centre for Climate Change Research (OCCR), University of Bern, Marine and Environmental Sciences Centre Portugal (MARE), Instituto Universitário de Ciências Psicológicas, Sociais e da Vida (ISPA), Centro de Ciências do Mar Faro (CCMAR), Universidade do Algarve (UAlg), Swiss Federal Research Institute, Institut Universitaire de France (IUF), Ministère de l'Education nationale, de l’Enseignement supérieur et de la Recherche (M.E.N.E.S.R.)
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: HAL CCSD 2020
• Subjects: envir; geo; Barents Sea; Greenland; Pacific; Eubalaena japonica; Greenland Sea; North Pacific right whale
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-019-57280-3; https://hal.umontpellier.fr/hal-03403188/file/s41598-019-57280-3.pdf; https://hal.umontpellier.fr/hal-03403188

International audience Although extinctions due to climate change are still uncommon, they might surpass those caused by habitat loss or overexploitation over the next few decades. Among marine megafauna, mammals fulfill key and irreplaceable ecological roles in the ocean, and the collapse of their populations may therefore have irreversible consequences for ecosystem functioning and services. Using a trait-based approach, we assessed the vulnerability of all marine mammals to global warming under high and low greenhouse gas emission scenarios for the middle and the end of the 21 st century. We showed that the North Pacific Ocean, the Greenland Sea and the Barents Sea host the species that are most vulnerable to global warming. Future conservation plans should therefore focus on these regions, where there are long histories of overexploitation and there are high levels of current threats to marine mammals. Among the most vulnerable marine mammals were several threatened species, such as the North Pacific right whale ( Eubalaena japonica ) and the dugong ( Dugong dugon ), that displayed unique combinations of functional traits. Beyond species loss, we showed that the potential extinctions of the marine mammals that were most vulnerable to global warming might induce a disproportionate loss of functional diversity, which may have profound impacts on the future functioning of marine ecosystems worldwide.