Marine range shifts and species introductions: comparative spread rates and community impacts

Abstract

Aim Shifts in species ranges are a predicted and realized effect of global climate change; however, few studies have addressed the rates and consequence of such shifts, particularly in marine systems. Given ecological similarities between shifting and introduced species, we examined how our understanding of range shifts may be informed by the more established study of non-native species introductions.Location Marine systems world-wide.Methods Database and citation searches were used to identify 129 marine species experiencing range shifts and to determine spread rates and impacts on recipient communities. Analyses of spread rates were based on studies for which postestablishment spread was reported in linear distance. The sizes of the effects of community impacts of shifting species were compared with those of functionally similar introduced species having ecologically similar impacts.Results Our review and meta-analyses revealed that: (1) 75% of the range shifts found through the database search were in the poleward direction, consistent with climate change scenarios, (2) spread rates of range shifts were lower than those of introductions, (3) shifting species spread over an order of magnitude faster in marine than in terrestrial systems, and (4) directions of community effects were largely negative and magnitudes were often similar for shifters and introduced species; however, this comparison was limited by few data for range-shifting species.Main conclusions Although marine range shifts are likely to proceed more slowly than marine introductions, the community-level effects could be as great, and in the same direction, as those of introduced species. Because it is wellestablished that introduced species are a primary threat to global biodiversity, it follows that, just like introductions, range shifts have the potential to seriously affect biological systems. In addition, given that ranges shift faster in marine than terrestrial environments, marine communities might be affected faster than terrestrial ones as species shift with climate change. Regardless of habitat, consideration of range shifts in the context of invasion biology can improve our understanding of what to expect from climate change-driven shifts as well as provide tools for formal assessment of risks to community structure and function.

Range extension of a boreal amphipod Gammarus oceanicus in the warming Arctic

“…size, mobility, behavior, and reproduction modes) and modes of dispersal. Sorte, Williams, and Carlton (2010) examined the published data on range extensions of marine native species (algae, plants, animals) in response to climate change and found that 75% of species had shifted poleward, the direction generally predicted by climate change. On average, range shifts occurred at rather slow pace of 19 km/year, but the rate can be much faster at high latitudes (28.0 ± 17.9 km/year).…”

Detecting range shifts among Australian fishes in response to climate change

“…Sorte et al 2010). Across all aquatic systems -marine, estuarine and freshwater -a mix of high dispersal rates and potential vagrant populations, coupled with high levels of temporal environmental variability, present a challenging backdrop against which to clearly distinguish the effects of a changing climate.…”

“…This makes range measurement especially difficult. Parmesan et al (2005) and Sorte et al (2010) defined 'range shift' as a change in the distribution of species boundaries from their previously recorded boundaries, which may include range contractions, range relocations and range extensions. In freshwater systems, range shifts can be heavily constrained by catchment boundaries.…”

Biodiversity of benthic macroinvertebrates on hard substrates in the Currais Marine Protected Area, in southern Brazil

“…The sea cucumber Isostichopus badionotus (Selenka, 1867) (Figure 4e) was on the Brazilian list of threatened species, but was excluded in the last evaluation (MMA 445/14). This species is classified in the category of least concern by the global IUCN red list, and is abundant in warmer waters of the Caribbean (Toral-Granda et al 2013).…”