(Press-News.org) Contact information: Glenn Harris
G.Harris@soton.ac.uk
44-023-805-93212
University of Southampton
Marine reserves enhance resilience to climate change
A new study, led by a University of Southampton scientist, highlights the potential for fish communities in marine reserves to resist climate change impacts better than communities on fished coasts.
The study, which is published today in the journal Nature Climate Change, involved an Australian research team from the Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies at the University of Tasmania and the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) Marine and Atmospheric Research.
The researchers looked at different types of fish community responses to both short- and long-term environmental variability. They found that marine reserves have the potential to build community resilience through mechanisms that promote species and functional stability, and resist colonisation by warm water vagrants.
In addition, some ecological signals were consistently noted in both the reserve and fished sites, such as in increase in the number of herbivorous fish. Their results therefore suggest that persistent long-term warming in southeast Australia will lead to major changes in the structure and function of shallow reef fish communities.
"What I found most striking about this work," comments lead author Dr Amanda Bates from the University of Southampton, "is that marine reserves have an important role to play in understanding ecological change in the absence of fishing – the knowledge that we have gained was only possible because the long-term data on fish species were available from a marine reserve."
The authors took advantage of a two decade long data series of fish abundance from the Maria Island Marine Reserve, collected by Dr Neville Barrett and Professor Graham Edgar since 1992 with support from the Tasmanian Parks and Wildlife Service. The study focused on how the biodiversity and biological characteristics of fish communities changed in the marine reserve following a sustained period of sea warming in comparison to nearby sites open to fishing.
INFORMATION:
Marine reserves enhance resilience to climate change
2013-12-02
ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:
Oregon researchers shed new light on solar water-splitting process
2013-12-02
Oregon researchers shed new light on solar water-splitting process
Fundamental discovery could speed development of efficient semiconductor-catalytic junctions
EUGENE, Ore. -- With the help of a new method called "dual-electrode photoelectrochemistry," University of Oregon ...
Koalas' low-pitched voice explained by unique organ
2013-12-02
Koalas' low-pitched voice explained by unique organ
VIDEO:
This video shows the velar fold vibration at 10-45 Hz.
Click here for more information.
...
Microplastics make marine worms sick
2013-12-02
Microplastics make marine worms sick
Tiny bits of plastic trash could spell big trouble for marine life, starting with the worms, say a team of researchers from Plymouth University and the University of Exeter who report their evidence in a pair of studies in the Cell Press ...
JCI early table of contents for Dec. 2, 2013
2013-12-02
JCI early table of contents for Dec. 2, 2013
Predicting outcome for high-dose IL-2 therapy in cancer patients
One of the most potent forms of immunotherapy for patients with metastatic melanoma and renal cell carcinoma is high-dose (HD) bolus IL-2 therapy. ...
Predicting outcome for high-dose IL-2 therapy in cancer patients
2013-12-02
Predicting outcome for high-dose IL-2 therapy in cancer patients
One of the most potent forms of immunotherapy for patients with metastatic melanoma and renal cell carcinoma is high-dose (HD) bolus IL-2 therapy. Approximately 15% of patients respond to ...
Blocking antioxidants in cancer cells reduces tumor growth in mice
2013-12-02
Blocking antioxidants in cancer cells reduces tumor growth in mice
Many cancers have adapted to cope with high levels of immune system-produced free radicals, also referred to as reactive oxygen species, by overproducing antioxidant proteins. One of these ...
Silent RNAs express themselves in ALS disease
2013-12-02
Silent RNAs express themselves in ALS disease
RNA molecules, used by cells to make proteins, are generally thought to be "silent" when stowed in cytoplasmic granules. But a protein mutated in some ALS patients forms granules that permit translation of ...
First Nations adults have more than double the risk of end-stage kidney disease
2013-12-02
First Nations adults have more than double the risk of end-stage kidney disease
First Nations adults with diabetes have more than double the risk of end-stage kidney disease compared with non–First Nations adults, found a new study in CMAJ (Canadian ...
Johns Hopkins researchers show how a modified pacemaker strengthens failing hearts
2013-12-02
Johns Hopkins researchers show how a modified pacemaker strengthens failing hearts
Findings advance opportunities for a 'pacemaker in a bottle'
Johns Hopkins heart researchers are unraveling the mystery of how a modified pacemaker used to treat many patients ...
Evolution, Civil War history entwine in plant fossil with a tragic past
2013-12-02
Evolution, Civil War history entwine in plant fossil with a tragic past
Union Army forced freed slaves to dig canal where 120 million-year-old fossil plant was found
COLLEGE PARK, Md – A fossil leaf fragment collected decades ago on a Virginia canal bank has been identified ...