Global warming pushes marine organisms to the poles

Mohammed Shaban

A global analysis of marine life - for more than a hundred years and involving more than three hundred marine species - has shown that the distribution of mammals, plankton, fish, plants and marine birds has changed with increasing ocean temperatures.

To understand how marine flora and fauna are distributed in response to rising sea temperatures, researchers at the University of Bristol and Exeter in the United Kingdom reviewed the results of 540 previous research papers, and published the results of their study in the Journal of Biology on March 26.

New places to live and stay
On this study, Martin Jenner, Professor of Evolutionary Ecology at the University of Bristol's School of Biological Sciences, spoke to Phys.Orge saying, "We surveyed a wide range of research studies that have changed the distribution of marine species over the past century, as the world's oceans have increased by more than one degree. percentage".

"We then determined the location of each study and its relationship to the global distribution of different marine species, and we asked whether these distributions depended on the study of the location of each species," Jenner added.

For marine species that can coexist with cold weather conditions, high temperatures helped these species to thrive near the poles, as these species found new habitats for their inhabitants, which were difficult for them to inhabit before.

While high temperatures near the equator were an impediment to species that used to live in warmer conditions, as they made their environment more warming that marine species could not tolerate them.

"High temperatures at the equator or low at the poles limit the distribution of marine life," said Louise Rutterford, who is involved in the study.

"We expected that warming seas - at the north and south poles - would increase the distribution of each species near the opposite pole, as the warmer climate made their housing more suitable," she added.

In addition, the researchers expected that the abundance of marine species near the equator will decrease due to the high temperatures that prevent them from surviving.

Positive and negative effects
The analyzed results indicated a noticeable change in the distribution of marine organisms at both poles and the equator, as predicted by scientists.

For example, the numbers of Atlantic herring and Adélie Penguin penguins have decreased near the hot bands near them, while their abundance has increased near cold ranges.

It seems that some marine species have benefited from climate change, especially those marine creatures close to the poles that have been able to survive.

At the same time, some other marine species suffered because they were unable to adapt quickly enough to survive, which was observed in organisms near the equator.

"This is cause for concern, as the increase or decrease in the distribution of these species may have detrimental consequences for the ecosystem," she commented.

The study indicates that most types of marine organisms are likely to undergo more changes in their distribution due to what scientists expect to increase global warming by 1.5 ° C by 2050.

"We expect marine species to be increasingly affected by climate change. This may give us a better chance of catching warm-water fish more than was previously possible," she explains.

"However, this also carries some negative effects. For example, high temperatures will allow harmful water parasites to live and thrive in water systems that were difficult to exist before."