Past studies on high-latitude abundances and distributions shifts under climate change have largely focused on food availability and temperature. In a new model linking physics to biology, published in Global Change Biology , we quantify how sea-ice loss will improve visual fish foraging efficiency. Ecological and evolutionary consequences for polar marine ecosystems would follow.
Late last month, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change issued a Special Report on the Impacts of Global Warming of 1.5 ºC 1 above pre-industrial levels (a rather low-emission pathway), triggering a lot of discussions around its origins and impacts on natural and human systems. In this context, it would be interesting to see how the ocean is likely to respond under - what is considered today as - an "optimistic" scenario for greenhouse gas emissions in the future, relative to more severe projections. Particularly for regions vulnerable to climate change (or else " Hot Spots") like the Mediterranean Sea, such a comparison would be more meaningful to be performed for the anomalous sea surface temperatures rather than the mean temperature evolution. And if you wonder why, let’s dive into the next paragraph.