Due to global warming, tropical animal species are moving from the Atlantic Ocean to the Mediterranean Sea. Researchers fear they could displace current residents. They have now published a study about this in the journal “PNAS”.
The team with Austrian participation investigated how well the Mediterranean Sea is suitable for West African tropical species and what the fauna currently looks like. “The Mediterranean Sea is a hotspot of marine biodiversity already affected by climate-related biodiversity collapse (…),” the study summary says. If global warming causes an invasion of tropical species, the Mediterranean’s wildlife will be further endangered. There is already a “biological invasion” from the Suez Canal by species from the Indo-Pacific.
The Mediterranean Sea is warming rapidly due to climate change. Nearly half of the Mediterranean fauna is found nowhere else in the world, says the team led by Paolo Albano from the “Stazione Zoologica Anton Dohrn” in Naples. There is also danger from the West.
New ecosystem in 2100?
The researchers have developed several possible scenarios. “The worst-case scenario results in a completely tropical Mediterranean region by the year 2100,” the report says. This is a “new ecosystem unprecedented in human history.” In this scenario, climate change is virtually uncontrolled and leads to a warming of 2.6 to 4.8 degrees Celsius.
Even with “moderate” global warming of 1.1 to 2.6 degrees Celsius, tropical species from the Atlantic Ocean would likely have unrestricted access to large parts of the Mediterranean Sea by 2050.
Source: Krone
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