At-risk marine biodiversity faces extensive, expanding, and intensifying human impacts

Science ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 372 (6537) ◽  
pp. 84-87
Author(s):  
Casey C. O’Hara ◽  
Melanie Frazier ◽  
Benjamin S. Halpern
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
At Risk ◽  
Conservation Management ◽  
Human Impacts ◽  
Marine Species ◽  
Marine Biodiversity ◽  
Fishing Activity ◽  
Anthropogenic Stressors ◽  
Taxonomic Groups ◽  
Over Time

Human activities and climate change threaten marine biodiversity worldwide, though sensitivity to these stressors varies considerably by species and taxonomic group. Mapping the spatial distribution of 14 anthropogenic stressors from 2003 to 2013 onto the ranges of 1271 at-risk marine species sensitive to them, we found that, on average, species faced potential impacts across 57% of their ranges, that this footprint expanded over time, and that the impacts intensified across 37% of their ranges. Although fishing activity dominated the footprint of impacts in national waters, climate stressors drove the expansion and intensification of impacts. Mitigating impacts on at-risk biodiversity is critical to supporting resilient marine ecosystems, and identifying the co-occurrence of impacts across multiple taxonomic groups highlights opportunities to amplify the benefits of conservation management.

Increasing importance of climate change and other threats to at-risk species in Canada

2020 ◽  
Vol 28 (4) ◽  
pp. 449-456
Author(s):  
Catherine Woo-Durand ◽  
Jean-Michel Matte ◽  
Grace Cuddihy ◽  
Chloe L. McGourdji ◽  
Oscar Venter ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
At Risk ◽  
Introduced Species ◽  
Habitat Loss ◽  
Native Species ◽  
The United States ◽  
Arctic Species ◽  
Over Exploitation ◽  
Paired Analysis ◽  
Over Time

In a previous analysis, six major threats to at-risk species in Canada were quantified: habitat loss, introduced species, over-exploitation, pollution, native species interactions, and natural causes (O. Venter et al. 2006. Bioscience, 56(11): 903–910). Because of rapid environmental change in Canada and an enhanced understanding of the drivers of species endangerment, we updated the 2005 analysis and tested for changes in threats up until the end of 2018. We also expanded the scope to acknowledge climate change as a seventh major threat to species, given its increasing importance for reshaping biological communities. Using information on the COSEWIC (Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada) website, we scored the threats for each of 814 species. Habitat loss remained the most important anthropogenic threat to Canada’s at-risk species, affecting 82% of species, followed by over-exploitation (47%), introduced species (46%), and pollution (35%). Climate change was the least important threat, affecting only 13% of species. However, report writers used less certain language when talking about climate change compared with other threats, so when we included cases where climate change was listed as a probable or future cause, climate change was the fourth most important anthropogenic threat, affecting some 38% of species. The prevalence of threat categories was broadly similar to those for the United States and IUCN listed species. The taxa most affected by climate change included lichens (77%), birds (63%), marine mammals (60%), and Arctic species of all taxa (79%), whereas vascular plants (23%), marine fishes (24%), arthropods (27%), and non-Arctic species (35%) were least affected. A paired analysis of the 188 species with two or more reports indicated that any mention of climate change as a threat increased from 12% to 50% in 10 years. Other anthropogenic threats that have increased significantly over time in the paired analysis included introduced species, over-exploitation, and pollution. Our analysis suggests that threats are changing rapidly over time, emphasizing the need to monitor future trends of all threats, including climate change.

scholarly journals Mapping status and conservation of global at-risk marine biodiversity

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Juan Carlos Villaseñor-Derbez
Keyword(s):  
At Risk ◽  
Spatial Distribution ◽  
High Risk ◽  
Extinction Risk ◽  
Conservation Status ◽  
Marine Reserve ◽  
Marine Species ◽  
Elevated Risk ◽  
Marine Biodiversity ◽  
Risk Areas

To conserve marine biodiversity, we must first understand the spatial distribution and status of at-risk biodiversity. We combined range maps and conservation status for 5,291 marine species to map the global distribution of extinction risk of marine biodiversity. We find that for 83% of the ocean, >25% of assessed species are considered threatened, and 15% of the ocean shows >50% of assessed species threatened when weighting for range-limited species. By comparing mean extinction risk of marine biodiversity to no-take marine reserve placement, we identify regions where reserves preferentially afford proactive protection (i.e., preserving low-risk areas) or reactive protection (i.e., mitigating high-risk areas), indicating opportunities and needs for effective future protection at national and regional scales. In addition, elevated risk to high seas biodiversity highlights the need for credible protection and minimization of threatening activities in international waters.

scholarly journals Economic Risk Assessment of Climate Change at the Urban Scale: The Case of Cape Town, South Africa

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Martin de Wit ◽  
Jonty Rawlins ◽  
Belynda Petrie
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
South Africa ◽  
Risk Assessment ◽  
At Risk ◽  
Cape Town ◽  
Climate Response ◽  
Economic Risk ◽  
Capital At Risk ◽  
Over Time ◽  
Economic Risks

Estimating the economic risks of climate shocks and climate stressors on spatially heterogeneous cities over time remain highly challenging. The purpose of this paper is to present a practical methodology to assess the economic risks of climate change in developing cities to inform spatially sensitive municipal climate response strategies. Building on a capital-based framework (CBF), spatially disaggregated baseline and future scenario scores for economic wealth and its exposure to climate change are developed for six different classes of capital and across 77 major suburbs in Cape Town, South Africa. Capital-at-risk was calculated by combining relative exposure and capital scores across different scenarios and with population impacted plotted against the major suburbs and the city’s 8 main planning districts. The economic risk assessment presented here provides a generic approach to assist investment planning and the implementation of adaptation options through an enhanced understanding of relative levels of capital endowment vis-à-vis relative levels of exposure to climate-related hazards over time. An informed climate response strategy in spatially heterogeneous cities need to include spatially sensitive estimates on capital-at-risk and populations disproportionally impacted by climate exposure over time. The economic risk assessment approach presented here helps in advancing to such a goal.

Human impacts on connectivity in marine and freshwater ecosystems assessed using graph theory: a review

2016 ◽  
Vol 67 (3) ◽  
pp. 277 ◽  
Author(s):  
Megan I. Saunders ◽  
Christopher J. Brown ◽  
Melissa M. Foley ◽  
Catherine M. Febria ◽  
Rebecca Albright ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Graph Theory ◽  
Aquatic Ecosystems ◽  
Conservation Management ◽  
Human Impacts ◽  
Freshwater Ecosystems ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Habitat Alteration ◽  
Graph Representations ◽  
Aquatic Connectivity

Human activities are altering the processes that connect organisms within and among habitats and populations in marine and freshwater (aquatic) ecosystems. Connectivity can be quantified using graph theory, where habitats or populations are represented by ‘nodes’ and dispersal is represented by ‘links’. This approach spans discipline and systemic divides, facilitating identification of generalities in human impacts. We conducted a review of studies that have used graph theory to quantify spatial functional connectivity in aquatic ecosystems. The search identified 42 studies published in 2000–14. We assessed whether each study quantified the impacts of (1) habitat alteration (loss, alteration to links, and gain), (2) human movements causing species introductions, (3) overharvesting and (4) climate change (warming temperatures, altered circulation or hydrology, sea-level rise) and ocean acidification. In freshwater systems habitat alteration was the most commonly studied stressor, whereas in marine systems overharvesting, in terms of larval dispersal among protected areas, was most commonly addressed. Few studies have directly assessed effects of climate change, suggesting an important area of future research. Graph representations of connectivity revealed similarities across different impacts and systems, suggesting common strategies for conservation management. We suggest future research directions for studies of aquatic connectivity to inform conservation management of aquatic ecosystems.

scholarly journals Extinction risk in extant marine species integrating palaeontological and biodistributional data

2018 ◽  
Vol 285 (1887) ◽  
pp. 20181698 ◽  
Author(s):  
K. S. Collins ◽  
S. M. Edie ◽  
G. Hunt ◽  
K. Roy ◽  
D. Jablonski
Keyword(s):  
Anthropogenic Impacts ◽  
Marine Invertebrate ◽  
Extinction Risk ◽  
Marine Species ◽  
Marine Biodiversity ◽  
Effective Management ◽  
Anthropogenic Stressors ◽  
Extinction Rates ◽  
Information Gap ◽  
The Face

Extinction risk assessments of marine invertebrate species remain scarce, which hinders effective management of marine biodiversity in the face of anthropogenic impacts. To help close this information gap, in this paper we provide a metric of relative extinction risk that combines palaeontological data, in the form of extinction rates calculated from the fossil record, with two known correlates of risk in the modern day: geographical range size and realized thermal niche. We test the performance of this metric—Palaeontological Extinction Risk In Lineages (PERIL)—using survivorship analyses of Pliocene bivalve faunas from California and New Zealand, and then use it to identify present-day hotspots of extinction vulnerability for extant shallow-marine Bivalvia. Areas of the ocean where concentrations of bivalve species with higher PERIL scores overlap with high levels of climatic or anthropogenic stressors should be considered of most immediate concern for both conservation and management.

Changing understandings of local knowledge in island environments

2017 ◽  
Vol 44 (4) ◽  
pp. 336-347 ◽  
Author(s):  
MATTHEW LAUER
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Marine Biodiversity ◽  
Western Science ◽  
Island Ecosystems ◽  
Community Based ◽  
Ecological Processes ◽  
Anthropogenic Stressors ◽  
Third Phase ◽  
Social Ecological ◽  
Widespread Acceptance

SUMMARYIsland ecosystems have rich marine biodiversity and high levels of terrestrial endemism, but are potentially the most vulnerable to climate change and anthropogenic stressors. To effectively manage environments, scholars and conservation practitioners have increasingly turned their attention to local islander knowledge (LK) and practices. To date, much of the literature treats LK definitionally rather than examining its theoretical underpinnings. This review focuses explicitly on the concept of LK and it describes three discernible phases of research marked by conceptual shifts. Over the 20th century, LK underwent a dramatic reversal from something understood as inferior and deficient to something that is valuable and empirically sound. This shift ushered in widespread acceptance of local islander knowledge as a unique, rich corpus of information that could be tapped by Western science to enhance community-based resource management. Over the last several decades, a third phase of LK research has emerged in which a more dynamic framing has developed, emphasizing LK's hybrid and adaptive dimensions, as well as its constitutive entanglements with other social–ecological processes. This has expanded the scope of inquiry into the strategies islanders employ as they adapt to changing social and environmental milieus, and as they attempt to co-produce knowledge with scientists and conservation practitioners.

scholarly journals Global warming is causing a more pronounced dip in marine species richness around the equator

2021 ◽  
Vol 118 (15) ◽  
pp. e2015094118
Author(s):  
Chhaya Chaudhary ◽  
Anthony J. Richardson ◽  
David S. Schoeman ◽  
Mark J. Costello
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Species Richness ◽  
Animal Species ◽  
Latitudinal Gradient ◽  
Marine Species ◽  
Global Scale ◽  
Marine Biodiversity ◽  
Marine Animal ◽  
Pelagic Species ◽  
The Tropics

The latitudinal gradient in species richness, with more species in the tropics and richness declining with latitude, is widely known and has been assumed to be stable over recent centuries. We analyzed data on 48,661 marine animal species since 1955, accounting for sampling variation, to assess whether the global latitudinal gradient in species richness is being impacted by climate change. We confirm recent studies that show a slight dip in species richness at the equator. Moreover, richness across latitudinal bands was sensitive to temperature, reaching a plateau or declining above a mean annual sea surface temperature of 20 °C for most taxa. In response, since the 1970s, species richness has declined at the equator relative to an increase at midlatitudes and has shifted north in the northern hemisphere, particularly among pelagic species. This pattern is consistent with the hypothesis that climate change is impacting the latitudinal gradient in marine biodiversity at a global scale. The intensification of the dip in species richness at the equator, especially for pelagic species, suggests that it is already too warm there for some species to survive.

Teresa Mannion and the Emergence of Extreme Weather Culture in Ireland

2019 ◽  
Vol 49 (1) ◽  
pp. 135-150
Author(s):  
Diane Negra
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
At Risk ◽  
Popular Culture ◽  
Extreme Weather ◽  
Cross Cultural ◽  
Viral Video ◽  
Cultural Information ◽  
Strong Winds ◽  
Risk Coverage

In this article I consider how registers of weather media carry/convey cultural information, specifically how texts about extreme weather articulate with investment in a supposed post-recession restored normality marked by the Irish government's commitment to deregulated transnational capitalism. I maintain that, in a process of cross-cultural remediation, sensationalist codes of US weather media that discursively manage awareness of systemic climate problems are just starting to infiltrate the Irish broadcasting environment. In early December 2015 RTÉ’s Teresa Mannion covered a strong gale, Storm Desmond, amidst inclement conditions in Salthill, Co Galway. Modelling the kind of ‘body at risk’ coverage consummately performed by US Weather Channel personnel, Mannion could barely speak over the lashing rain and strong winds in a dramatic broadcast that quickly became a viral video. This article analyses the fascination with Mannion's piece and its memetic, and attends to the nature of the pleasure taken in her on-camera discomfiture and the breach of gendered territory committed by Mannion at a time when national popular culture in Ireland is under increased obligation to identify and explain climate change-related extreme weather.

Cultivating Ice over Time: On the Idea of Timeless Knowledge and Places in the Himalayas

1969 ◽  
Vol 58 (2) ◽  
pp. 193-210 ◽  
Author(s):  
Karine Gagné
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Sense Of Community ◽  
Local Knowledge ◽  
Local Communities ◽  
International Organisations ◽  
Change Over Time ◽  
Local Populations ◽  
Close Study ◽  
Indian Himalayas ◽  
Over Time

Assumptions that local communities have an endogenous capacity to adapt to climate change stemming from time-tested knowledge and an inherent sense of community that prompts mobilisation are becoming increasingly common in material produced by international organisations. This discourse, which relies on ahistorical and apolitical conceptions of localities and populations, is based on ideas of timeless knowledge and places. Analysing the water-place nexus in Ladakh, in the Indian Himalayas, through a close study of glacier practices as they change over time, the article argues that local knowledge is subject to change and must be analysed in light of changing conceptions and experiences of place by the state and by local populations alike.

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