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Substrate-dependent fish have shifted less in distribution under climate change.

Publication ,  Journal Article
Roberts, SM; Boustany, AM; Halpin, PN
Published in: Communications biology
October 2020

Analyses of the impacts of climate change on fish species have primarily considered dynamic oceanographic variables that are the output of predictive models, yet fish species distributions are determined by much more than just variables such as ocean temperature. Functionally diverse species are differentially influenced by oceanographic as well as physiographic variables such as bottom substrate, thereby influencing their ability to shift distributions. Here, we show that fish species distributions that are more associated with bottom substrate than other dynamic environmental variables have shifted significantly less over the last 30 years than species whose distributions are associated with bottom salinity. Correspondingly, species whose distributions are primarily determined by bottom temperature or ocean salinity have shifted their mean centroid and southern and northern range boundaries significantly more than species whose distributions are determined by substrate or depth. The influence of oceanographic versus static variables differs by species functional group, as benthic species distributions are more associated with substrate and they have shifted significantly less than pelagic species whose distributions are primarily associated with ocean temperatures. In conclusion, benthic fish, that are more influenced by substrate, may prove much less likely to shift distributions under future climate change.

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Published In

Communications biology

DOI

EISSN

2399-3642

ISSN

2399-3642

Publication Date

October 2020

Volume

3

Issue

1

Start / End Page

586

Related Subject Headings

  • Seasons
  • Population Dynamics
  • Fishes
  • Ecosystem
  • Climate Change
  • Biomass
  • Animals
  • 32 Biomedical and clinical sciences
  • 31 Biological sciences
 

Citation

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Roberts, S. M., Boustany, A. M., & Halpin, P. N. (2020). Substrate-dependent fish have shifted less in distribution under climate change. Communications Biology, 3(1), 586. https://doi.org/10.1038/s42003-020-01325-1
Roberts, Sarah M., Andre M. Boustany, and Patrick N. Halpin. “Substrate-dependent fish have shifted less in distribution under climate change.Communications Biology 3, no. 1 (October 2020): 586. https://doi.org/10.1038/s42003-020-01325-1.
Roberts SM, Boustany AM, Halpin PN. Substrate-dependent fish have shifted less in distribution under climate change. Communications biology. 2020 Oct;3(1):586.
Roberts, Sarah M., et al. “Substrate-dependent fish have shifted less in distribution under climate change.Communications Biology, vol. 3, no. 1, Oct. 2020, p. 586. Epmc, doi:10.1038/s42003-020-01325-1.
Roberts SM, Boustany AM, Halpin PN. Substrate-dependent fish have shifted less in distribution under climate change. Communications biology. 2020 Oct;3(1):586.

Published In

Communications biology

DOI

EISSN

2399-3642

ISSN

2399-3642

Publication Date

October 2020

Volume

3

Issue

1

Start / End Page

586

Related Subject Headings

  • Seasons
  • Population Dynamics
  • Fishes
  • Ecosystem
  • Climate Change
  • Biomass
  • Animals
  • 32 Biomedical and clinical sciences
  • 31 Biological sciences