High CO2 to slow tropical fish move to cooler waters
Moorish idol - a coral reef species extending its ranges into temperate Australia under climate change. Image credit: Ericka Coni
Under increasing global warming, tropical fish are escaping warmer seas by extending their habitat ranges towards more temperate waters.
But a new study from the University of 亚洲色吧, published in , shows that the ocean acidification predicted under continuing high CO2 emissions may make cooler, temperate waters less welcoming.
鈥淓very summer hundreds of tropical fish species extend their range to cooler and temperate regions as the waters of their natural habitat become a little too warm for comfort,鈥 says lead author Ericka Coni, PhD student in the University鈥檚 School of Biological Sciences. 鈥淔or at least two decades, Australian temperate reefs have been receiving new guests from the tropics.
鈥淎s a result of warming, we also see warm-temperate long-spined sea urchins increasing in numbers in southeast Australia, where they overgraze kelp forests and turn them into deserts known as 鈥榰rchin barrens鈥. Coral reef fishes that are expanding their ranges to temperate Australia prefer these barrens over the natural kelp habitats.
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