This web application uses cookies and other tracking technologies to ensure you get the best experience.
SC/69A/E/07
Offline resourceN/A |
Request |
| Additional files | |
SC_69A_E_07.pdf412 KB |
Download |
| View in browser | |
Resource ID
19985
Access
Open
Document Number
SC/69A/E/07
Full Title
An update on the implications of climate change for cetaceans - with a particular focus on the Mediterranean Sea.
Author
Sandra Striegel, Laetitia Nunny, Mark P. Simmonds
Authors Summary
Ocean warming progressed faster over the past century than at any other time since the end of the last deglacial transition and there is a swifty growing scientific literature that considers the ways that climate change may be affecting cetaceans.
Climate change affects cetaceans both directly and indirectly, the latter by affecting their prey, habitat, food webs and ecosystems. Among the multitude of impacts now observed and predicted are:
• shifts in cetacean distribution and abundance;
• loss of habitat;
• altered species and trophic interactions;
• altered inter- and intraspecific competition;
• reduced reproductive success;
• changes in phenology and migrations;
• relocations of feeding and/or breeding grounds;
• trophic mismatches;
• increased exposure to pollution, pathogens, extreme weather events, marine heatwaves, and toxic algal blooms;
• changes in behaviour; and
• increased stress levels and higher susceptibility to diseases or other anthropogenic stressors.
Climate change impacts can also negatively affect the health, body condition, immune system, and survival of individuals and reduce the adaptive capacity and genetic variability within populations or species. (A spreadsheet of published works describing and categorizing observed and predicted impacts of climate change on cetaceans is available from the authors.)
Publisher
IWC
Publication Year
2023
Abstract
Climate change interacts with cetaceans, their prey and their habitats in numerous ways and there is growing evidence that cetacean populations are responding to the changes caused by climate change. This review takes into account the most recent scientific literature to provide an update for the IWC Scientific Committee and looks at the Mediterranean in particular as a case study.