Authors
Adriana Vergés, Erin McCosker, Mariana Mayer‐Pinto, Melinda A Coleman, Thomas Wernberg, Tracy Ainsworth, Peter D Steinberg
Publication date
2019
Journal
Functional Ecology
Description
- Temperate reefs from around the world are becoming tropicalised, as warm‐water species shift their distribution towards the poles in response to warming. This is already causing profound shifts in dominant foundation species and associated ecological communities as canopy seaweeds such as kelp are replaced by tropical species.
- Here, we argue that the cascading consequences of tropicalisation for the ecosystem properties and functions of warming temperate reefs depend largely on the taxa that end up dominating the seafloor. We put forward three potential tropicalisation trajectories, that differ in whether seaweeds, turf or corals become dominant. We highlight potential gains to certain ecosystem functions for some tropicalisation endpoints. For example, local benthic fish productivity may increase in some tropicalised reefs as a higher proportion of primary production is directly consumed, but this will be at …
Scholar articles
A Vergés, E McCosker, M Mayer‐Pinto, MA Coleman… - Functional Ecology, 2019