October
9, 2018, Institute of Physics
Climate
change's effect on coastal ecosystems is very likely to increase mortality
risks of adult oyster populations in the next 20 years.
That is
the finding of a new study led by the University of Nantes, the LEMAR (the
Marine Environmental Science Laboratory) in Plouzané and the Cerfacs (European
center for research and advanced training in scientific computing) in Toulouse
(France).
Published
today in the journal Environmental Research Letters, the research
highlights a novel and comprehensive relationship between climate variability
and historical mortality of
adult oysters on the French Atlantic coast from 1993 to 2015.
The
team's results show oyster mortality usually increases after warm and wet
winters over Northern Europe, affected by recurrent storms embedded in large
weather circulation patterns covering the whole North Atlantic basin – known as
the positive phase of the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO).
The
study's lead author is Dr. Yoann Thomas, from the French National Research
Institute for Sustainable Development (IRD) at LEMAR. He said: "Benthic
species like oysters are keystone species in coastal ecosystems. For example,
they build reef habitats, which sustain a high biodiversity, and provide
tremendous food source worldwide though fishing or aquaculture activities.
"But
they are very sensitive to changes in climate and water quality, because they
cannot move if a location becomes inhospitable. In this sense, oyster
populations are sentinels of long-term climate fluctuations and climate trends,
and more broadly of the 'health' of coastal ecosystems.
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