Global investigation reveals true scale of ocean warming
Warming oceans are causing marine species to change breeding times and shift homes with expected substantial consequences for the broader marine landscape according to a new global study. The three-year research project, funded by the National Centre for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis in California, has shown widespread systemic shifts in measures such as distribution of species and phenology – the timing of nature’s calendar – on a scale comparable to or greater than those observed on land. The report, Global imprint of climate change on marine life, will form part of the Intergovernmental Panel for Climate Change Assessment Report due for publication in 2014 and is published in this month’s Nature Climate Change. It was undertaken by eminent scientists at 17 institutions across the world, including the University of Queensland, Plymouth University, Aberystwyth University, and the Scottish Association for Marine Science (SAMS). One of the lead authors of the report, Professor Ca...