<
https://theconversation.com/fish-fingerprints-in-the-ocean-reveal-which-species-are-moving-homes-due-to-climate-change-264683>
"Species across the planet are on the move. Climate change has already caused
more than 12,000 species to shift their homes across land, freshwater and the
sea. They move to escape unfavourable conditions or to explore ecosystems that
were previously inaccessible.
In the ocean, some tropical fish are “packing their bags” and moving into
temperate reefs to seek cooler waters. These migrations are already happening
along the east coast of Australia, which is considered one of the
fastest-warming marine regions on Earth. New coral and fish species are
regularly arriving in Sydney’s oceans, and this is expected to increase with
future climate change.
These newcomers are traditionally monitored through visual surveys by
researchers or citizen scientists. But many of these early arrivals are small,
rare, nocturnal or live in caves, which means they can be easily missed. As a
result, we may be underestimating the true rate of species on the move.
That is where our new research, published in
Diversity and Distributions,
comes in. We took off our marine ecologist hats and became forensic scientists,
searching the water for clues about species on the move. By analysing fragments
of DNA drifting in the ocean, we set out to discover the hidden shifts in fish
communities that traditional visual surveys can overlook."
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
