Involved Member: Dr. Moriaki YASUHARA

In addition to causing dreaded storms and fires, climate change will also cause invisible phenomena, such as reducing oxygen in seawater and warming seawater, threatening marine ecology. Dr. Moriaki Yasuhara, a member of SKLMP, published an article in the prestigious journal "Science" on predicting and understanding the future ocean conditions through palaeontology. Based on observations in paleobiology studies, it is predicted that a warming and deoxygenating ocean will make species smaller and push them from the tropical zone to the temperate zone, from the temperate zone to the polar zone, and from the polar zone to extinction, resulting in a loss of biodiversity in the tropics and higher biodiversity in higher latitudes. This domino effect of species displacements leads to the prediction that warming may reduce tropical diversity while causing extinction for polar endemic species. Thus, a warmer future will alter ecological communities in tropical oceans, which disproportionally affect developing countries, where the reliance on small-scale fishing is especially high.

Reference:

Yasuhara, M., Deutsch, C.A. (2022). Paleobiology Provides Glimpses of Future Ocean. Science, 375(6576), 25-26. (impact factor 63.798)