In a recent study published in Science Advances, a team of researchers led by the University of California, Santa Cruz (UCSC) examined the inherit extinction dangers of red sea urchins in both Northern and Southern California as a result of global climate change. While red sea urchins were found to have adapted to their local environments, this might become more dangerous as global climate change worsens in the future, specifically pertaining to ocean acidification. This study holds the potential to help scientists better understand how global climate change affects wildlife across the world.
"Red sea urchins from the Southern California population were much more sensitive to environmental changes than those from Northern California, and we think that is likely because they are already closer to some kind of thermal limit," Dr. Kristy Kroeker, who is a professor of ecology and evolutionary biology at UC Santa Cruz, and a co-author on the study, said in a statement.
For the study, the researchers conducted what’s known as a mesocosm experiment for three months to identify local adaptation/acclimation for red sea urchin populations in Northern and California using water temperature, dissolved oxygen, and pH as environmental variables in the study. Their results indicate that water temperature acted as the largest environmental variable for the adaptability and acclimation of red sea urchin populations.
"We should not assume that a species' vulnerability to climate change is the same across its whole range," Dr. Kroeker said in a statement. "Each population is adapted to local conditions, and not all populations are going to respond similarly to global climate change."
Sources: Science Advances, UC Santa Cruz Newscenter, ScienceDirect
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