An analysis of more than 70,000 fossils indicates that mollusk communities were incredibly resilient to major climatic shifts during the last ice age.
An analysis of more than 70,000 fossils indicates that mollusk communities were incredibly resilient to major climatic shifts during the last ice age.
Scientists from the Florida Museum of Natural History and several European research institutions tracked the history of Adriatic ecosystems through two warm periods that bookend the most recent glacial expansion. Their results show that major changes in temperature, salinity and sea-level had much less of an impact on mollusk communities than the current environmental crisis caused by human activity in the region.
“It is sobering to consider that about 120,000 years of major climate change did not affect these ecosystems nearly as much as the human-induced changes of the last few centuries,” said senior author Michał Kowalewski, the Florida Museum Thompson chair of Invertebrate Paleontology.
Researchers have known for some time that modern Adriatic ecosystems are considerably altered compared to historical baselines.
Read more at Florida Museum of Natural History
Image: Adriatic mollusks have proven to be incredibly resilient to climate change, weathering the last ice age with nearly no long-term effects. But human activity over the last few centuries threatens to destabilize mollusk communities in the region, with negative impacts for the marine ecosystems they occupy. (Credit: Fabio Negri)
