Chapter 07: Vulnerability of macroalgae of the Great Barrier Reef to climate change

Assessing the vulnerability of benthic macroalgae is complicated by the fact that the taxon ‘algae’ is an unnatural (and, some suggest, outdated) grouping that encompasses several distinct and diverse evolutionary lines. Adl et al.3 suggest that ‘algae’ remains a useful functional term, denoting photosynthetic protists and their multicellular derivatives which are not embryophytes (higher plants), as well as cyanobacteria. However, they also show that ‘algae’, like ‘protists’, is not a formal taxon (and therefore should not be capitalised), nor a single, homogeneous group.This is Chapter 7 of Climate change and the Great Barrier Reef: a vulnerability assessment. The entire book can be found at http://hdl.handle.net/11017/13

Population dynamics and species interactions in macroalgal blooms: abiotic versus biotic control at different life-cycle stages

SIGLEAvailable from TIB Hannover: RN 3292(303) / FIZ - Fachinformationszzentrum Karlsruhe / TIB - Technische InformationsbibliothekDEGerman

Global patterns of predator diversity in the open oceans

The open oceans comprise most of the biosphere, yet patterns and trends of species diversity there are enigmatic. Here, we derive worldwide patterns of tuna and billfish diversity over the past 50 years, revealing distinct subtropical ‘‘hotspots’’ that appeared to hold generally for other predators and zooplankton. Diversity was positively correlated with thermal fronts and dissolved oxygen and a nonlinear function of temperature (È25-C optimum). Diversity declined between 10 and 50% in all oceans, a trend that coincided with increased fishing pressure, superimposed on strong El Nino–Southern Oscillation–driven variability across the Pacific. We conclude that predator diversity shows a predictable yet eroding pattern signaling ecosystem-wide changes linked to climate and fishing

Recovery of marine animal populations and ecosystems

Many marine populations and ecosystems have experienced strong historical depletions, yet reports of recoveries are increasing. Here, we review the growing research on marine recoveries to reveal how common recovery is, its magnitude, timescale and major drivers. Overall, 10-50% of depleted populations and ecosystems show some recovery, but rarely to former levels of abundance. In addition, recovery can take many decades for long-lived species and complex ecosystems. Major drivers of recovery include the reduction of human impacts, especially exploitation, habitat loss and pollution, combined with favorable life-history and environmental conditions. Awareness, legal protection and enforcement of management plans are also crucial. Learning from historical recovery successes and failures is essential for implementing realistic conservation goals and promising management strategies

Global patterns and predictors of marine biodiversity across taxa

Using large-scale data sets, these authors present a new assessment of global marine species diversity and its correlation with environmental and spatial parameters