climate change

Coral reefs and their associated fish communities are among the most biodiverse and productive ecosystems on Earth, but they are under threat from multiple stressors, many of which are driven by human activities. To better understand the threats facing coral reef fishes, 875 studies conducted between 1979 and 2020 were reviewed, examining their physiological responses to various abiotic and biotic stressors. The book chapter highlights the need for continued research and technological advances to better understand and mitigate the impacts of stressors on coral reef ecosystems, in order to protect their biodiversity and ecological function in the face of ongoing global change.

Here we investigated whether the decreasing annual productivity (i.e. larval abundances) of Baltic Sea herring over the last decade is linked to warmer springs exceeding the physiological optimum of early life stages. Linking physiological thermal tolerance and recruitment indexes from the field, we found that warming is at least partially responsible for the steady decline in recruitment.

The stability of marine fish populations is, next to natural or fishing mortality, based on the annual recruitment of the …

Climate change will reduce the salinity in the Baltic Sea to levels that marine fish species may not be able to tolerate. We acutely exposed Atlantic herring larvae from different Baltic Sea populations to low salinities, and modelled the survival threshold now, and for salinity projections at the end of the 21st century. Climate-driven freshening will make some Baltic habitats unsuitable for larvae.