Entire species left behind to die in race to beat warming

CLIMATE change will force many animals and plants to move their habitats to survive, but some species may be left homeless, according to new research.

While some creatures will shift to higher ground or deeper water to escape rising temperatures, others may have nowhere to go.

An international research team, led by Dr Mike Burrows, from the Scottish Association for Marine Science (Sams) in Oban, compared changing temperatures for both land and sea and from place to place over a 50- year period, from 1960–2009.

Since 1960, the average rate of warming has been 0.24C per decade on land and 0.07C in the sea. Although the land is warming three times faster than the sea, their findings, published in the journal Science, show there was very little difference between movement rates among terrestrial and marine species in relocating to keep up with temperature change.

Dr Burrows said: “When temperatures rise, plants and animals that need a cooler environment move to new regions. The land is warming about three times faster than the ocean, so you might simply expect species to move three times faster on land, but that’s not the case.”

He said if the land temperature becomes too hot for some species, they can move to higher ground, where temperatures are generally cooler. However, that is not an option for many marine species which live at, or near, the surface of the ocean.

“When temperatures rise, species such as fish will be able to move into deeper water to find the cooler environments they prefer – but other species, such as marine plants or slow-moving corals, will have to move further to find suitable habitats and could become trapped if there are no cooler places for them to go.”

Researchers found that the species that move fastest to keep ahead of climate change include seabirds and zooplankton.

Co-author Dr John Bruno, from the University of North Carolina, said that many marine creatures would find it difficult keeping up with climate change. He said: “Being stuck in a warming environment can cause reductions in the growth, reproduction and survival of ecologically and economically important ocean life such as fish, corals and sea birds.”

The study also highlights the variation in ocean surface temperatures within a very small region, which also causes species movement. Springtime temperatures around Scotland, for example, have arrived around five days per decade earlier on the east coast, whereas there has been almost no shift in spring temperature on the west coast.

Dr Burrows added: “The areas where species would need to relocate the fastest to stay ahead of climate changes are important biodiversity hotspots, such as the coral triangle in South-eastern Asia.”