Journal article
Subcontinental heat wave triggers terrestrial and marine, multi-taxa responses
Scientific Reports, Vol.8, Article number: 13094
2018
Abstract
Heat waves have profoundly impacted biota globally over the past decade, especially where their ecological impacts are rapid, diverse, and broad-scale. Although usually considered in isolation for either terrestrial or marine ecosystems, heat waves can straddle ecosystems of both types at subcontinental scales, potentially impacting larger areas and taxonomic breadth than previously envisioned. Using climatic and multi-species demographic data collected in Western Australia, we show that a massive heat wave event straddling terrestrial and maritime ecosystems triggered abrupt, synchronous, and multi-trophic ecological disruptions, including mortality, demographic shifts and altered species distributions. Tree die-off and coral bleaching occurred concurrently in response to the heat wave, and were accompanied by terrestrial plant mortality, seagrass and kelp loss, population crash of an endangered terrestrial bird species, plummeting breeding success in marine penguins, and outbreaks of terrestrial wood-boring insects. These multiple taxa and trophic-level impacts spanned >300,000 km2—comparable to the size of California—encompassing one terrestrial Global Biodiversity Hotspot and two marine World Heritage Areas. The subcontinental multi-taxa context documented here reveals that terrestrial and marine biotic responses to heat waves do not occur in isolation, implying that the extent of ecological vulnerability to projected increases in heat waves is underestimated.
Details
- Title
- Subcontinental heat wave triggers terrestrial and marine, multi-taxa responses
- Authors/Creators
- K.X. Ruthrof (Author/Creator) - Murdoch UniversityD.D. Breshears (Author/Creator) - University of ArizonaJ.B. Fontaine (Author/Creator)R.H. Froend (Author/Creator) - Edith Cowan UniversityG. Matusick (Author/Creator) - Murdoch UniversityJ. Kala (Author/Creator) - Murdoch UniversityB.P. Miller (Author/Creator) - The University of Western AustraliaP.J. Mitchell (Author/Creator) - CSIRO Land and WaterS.K. Wilson (Author/Creator) - The University of Western AustraliaM. van Keulen (Author/Creator) - Murdoch UniversityN.J. Enright (Author/Creator) - Murdoch UniversityD.J. Law (Author/Creator) - University of ArizonaT. Wernberg (Author/Creator) - The University of Western AustraliaG.E.St.J. Hardy (Author/Creator) - Murdoch University
- Publication Details
- Scientific Reports, Vol.8, Article number: 13094
- Publisher
- Nature Publishing Group
- Identifiers
- 991005543906507891
- Copyright
- © The Author(s) 2018
- Murdoch Affiliation
- School of Veterinary and Life Sciences
- Language
- English
- Resource Type
- Journal article
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