Turning on the heat: ecological response to simulated warming in the sea

Significant warming has been observed in every ocean, yet our ability to predict the consequences of oceanic warming on marine biodiversity remains poor. Experiments have been severely limited because, until now, it has not been possible to manipulate seawater temperature in a consistent manner acro...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:PloS one 2011-01, Vol.6 (1), p.e16050
Main Authors: Smale, Dan A, Wernberg, Thomas, Peck, Lloyd S, Barnes, David K A
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Animals
Aquatic habitats
Ascidiacea
Biodiversity
Biofilms
Biology
Biomass
Boundary layers
Climate change
Colonization
Coral reefs
Didemnum
Earth Sciences
Ecosystem
Ecosystem biology
Ecosystems
Environmental aspects
Environmental changes
Experiments
Global Warming
Hot Temperature
Marine
Marine ecology
Marine organisms
Models, Biological
Ocean warming
Oceans
Plant biology
Seawater
Seawater - microbiology
Studies
Temperature
Temperature effects
Trends
Urochordata
Variance analysis
Water temperature
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Summary:Significant warming has been observed in every ocean, yet our ability to predict the consequences of oceanic warming on marine biodiversity remains poor. Experiments have been severely limited because, until now, it has not been possible to manipulate seawater temperature in a consistent manner across a range of marine habitats. We constructed a "hot-plate" system to directly examine ecological responses to elevated seawater temperature in a subtidal marine system. The substratum available for colonisation and overlying seawater boundary layer were warmed for 36 days, which resulted in greater biomass of marine organisms and a doubling of space coverage by a dominant colonial ascidian. The "hot-plate" system will facilitate complex manipulations of temperature and multiple stressors in the field to provide valuable information on the response of individuals, populations and communities to environmental change in any aquatic habitat.
ISSN:1932-6203
1932-6203
DOI:10.1371/journal.pone.0016050