The Tropicalisation of Temperate Ecosystems
Anjani Ganase, marine biologist, looks at how climate change and warming ocean temperatures are impacting temperate marine ecosystems adjacent to tropical marine life. The average land and sea surface temperature of the planet has increased by about 0.8 °C over the last one hundred years. Although this does not appear to be a significant number, a change of less than one degree can affect the timing of seasonal changes in plants and animals: breeding season, migration routes, flowering and fruiting of plants. Springtime activities in both animals and plants have been recorded to be occurring progressively earlier since the 1960s, including the arrival of butterflies and birds, delayed autumnal departures of migrating birds, as well as earlier breeding patterns in amphibians (Walther et al 2002). Apart from shifts in the timing of events, there have also been recordings of shifts or expansion in the range of plants and animals, in particular sedentary organisms, towards the pole...