Global climate change will affect fish sizes in unpredictable ways and, consequently, impact complex food webs in our oceans, a new Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies (IMAS)-led study has shown.
Global climate change will affect fish sizes in unpredictable ways and, consequently, impact complex food webs in our oceans, a new Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies (IMAS)-led study has shown.
Led by IMAS and Centre for Marine Socioecology scientist Dr Asta Audzijonyte and published in the journal Nature Ecology and Evolution, the study analysed three decades of data from 30,000 surveys of rocky and coral reefs around Australia.
Dr Audzijonyte said the study confirmed that changes in water temperature were responsible for driving changes in average sizes of fish species across time and spatial scales.
“Cold-blooded animals, especially fish, have long been noted to grow to a smaller size when raised in warmer temperatures in an aquarium,” Dr Audzijonyte said.
“If fish grow to smaller sizes in warmer aquaria, it is only natural to expect that global warming will also lead to shrinkage of adult fish size.
Read more at University Of Tasmania
Image: Deep Glen Bay, Tasmania. Credit Antonia Cooper.
