J. Bethune: Department of Geology, Carleton College, Northfield, Minnesota, USA;
K. J. Anderson: Department of Earth System Science, University of California, Irvine, California, USA;
T. H. Syed: Department of Earth System Science, University of California, Irvine, California, USA; and Department of Applied Geology, Indian School of Mines, Dhanbad, India;
S. C. Swenson: Climate and Global Dynamics Division, National Center for Atmospheric Research, Boulder, Colorado, USA;
C. R. de Linage: Department of Earth System Science, University of California, Irvine, California, USA;
M. Rodell: Hydrological Sciences Branch, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Maryland, USA.
2. Corals expand poleward as seas warm
Corals are important organisms for ecosystems and are sensitive indicators of the effects of climate warming. While corals are bleaching and dying in tropical areas due to climate warming, in temperate areas they are expanding their range poleward as water temperatures increase, a new study shows. Yamano et al. use 80 years of records to study the range of corals around Japan. Sea surface temperatures have risen in these temperate areas during that time. They find that four of the nine species of coral they studied expanded their range northward since the 1930s, while none had its range shrink southward. The corals expanded northward as quickly as 14 kilometers (8.7 miles) per year. The study suggests that rapid modifications of temperate coastal ecosystems could be taking place.
Source:
Geophysical Research Letters, doi:10.1029/2010GL046474, 2011
http://dx.doi.org/10.1029/2010GL046474
Title: Rapid poleward range expansion of tropical reef corals in response to rising sea surface temperatures
Authors:
Hiroya Yamano and Kaoru Sugihara: Center for Global Environmental Research, Na
'/>"/>
| Contact: Peter Weiss pweiss@agu.org 202-777-7507 American Geophysical Union Source:Eurekalert |