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- Kelp forest diversity under projected end‐of‐century climate changePublication . Assis, Jorge; Fragkopoulou, Eliza; Gouvêa, Lidiane; Araújo, Miguel B.; Serrao, EsterAim: Future climate change threatens marine forests across the world, potentially disrupting ecosystem function and services. Nonetheless, the direction and intensity of climate-induced changes in kelp forest biodiversity remain unknown, precluding well-informed conservation and management practices. Location: Global. Methods: We use machine-learning models to forecast global changes in species richness and community composition of 105 kelp forest species under contrasting Shared Socioeconomic Pathway (SSP) scenarios of climate change (decade 2090-2100): one aligned with the Paris Agreement and another of substantially higher emissions. Results: A poleward and depth shift in species distributions is forecasted, translating into similar to 15% less area in the extent of the global biome, coupled with marked regional biodiversity changes. Community composition changes are mostly projected in the Arctic, the Northern Pacific and Atlantic, and Australasia, owing to poleward range expansions and wide low latitude losses. Main Conclusions: By surpassing the Paris Agreement expectations, species reshuffling may simplify and impair ecosystem services in numerous temperate regions of Australasia, Southern Africa, Southern America and the Northern Atlantic, and in the tropical Pacific, where complete species losses were projected without replacement. These estimates, flagging threatened regions and species, as well as refugial areas of population persistence, can now inform conservation, management and restoration practices considering future climate change.
- Seagrass biodiversity under the latest‐generation scenarios of projected climate changePublication . Gouvêa, Lidiane; Fragkopoulou, Eliza; Araújo, Miguel B.; Serrao, Ester A.; Assis, JorgeAimThe potentially cascading consequences of climate changes on redistribution of habitat-forming species, like seagrasses, remain a major research gap. Empirical demonstrations of local population changes are increasingly reported without a globally integrated predictive framework as a leading testable hypothesis. Therefore, here, we aimed to estimate changes in species richness, community composition, and areas of climatic refugia under future climate scenarios.LocationGlobal scale.Time PeriodPresent-day conditions (from 2010 to 2020) and for three Shared Socioeconomic Pathway (SSP) scenarios of future climate change (from 2090 to 2100).Major Taxa StudiesSeagrasses (plantae).MethodsWe coupled seagrass occurrences with environmental predictors (temperature, salinity, nitrate, wave energy, and ice) in stacked species distribution modelling.ResultsModels estimated a present global extent of 917,169 km2 with high species richness in Temperate Australasia, Indo-Pacific, and Temperate North Pacific. Future projections predicted widespread spatial redistribution, with Arctic expansions, losses in lower latitudes, and deeper vertical ranges, while globally maintaining the area extent occupied worldwide by seagrass species (only 5% of change). Species richness increased poleward under more drastic scenarios (SSP3-7.0 and SSP5-8.5), with losses in tropical zones (30oN to 30oS). Local climatic refugia are retained in all scenarios but decrease under higher emissions. Additionally, even where seagrass species remain, widespread community composition changes were predicted.Main ConclusionsOur findings serve as baselines to inform, anticipate, and mitigate cascading consequences of shifts in seagrass ecosystems that provide essential services for humanity.