8/15/2023 0 Comments Swim with rays![]() As a consequence, some individuals may be able to acclimate over a relatively long period of time while some populations may rapidly adapt to the changes in their environment across generations favoring physiotypes that are resilient in the new conditions (Munday 2014 Ryu et al. Some long-lived organisms may experience a wide spectrum of environmental change, while others with faster generational turnover may only experience relatively stable conditions within their lifetime (Melzner et al. long term exposure), and across populations (Donelson et al. Responses to ocean warming and acidification may vary across the life history of organisms, with embryonic and juvenile stages being the most vulnerable (Lear et al. For this reason, efforts may be focused on identifying key traits that make “physiotypes”, i.e., organisms with similar physiological characteristics, more or less susceptible to climate-related stressors (Nelson 1970 Melzner et al. Marine organisms vary in their physiological and morphological characteristics and, as a result, their individual responses to ocean warming and ocean acidification differ significantly (Harvey et al. Previous work on ocean acidification and warming has focused mostly on teleost fishes while the effect on elasmobranchs has been investigated to a much lesser degree (for example: Lauder and Di Santo 2015 Johnson et al. Even though ocean warming and acidification are considered to be some of the biggest threats to marine biodiversity, the individual and synergistic effects of these stressors on elasmobranch fishes (sharks and rays) are still clearly understudied (Rosa et al. ![]() ![]() ![]() As a consequence, the ocean pH is expected to decline by up to 0.4 units by the end of the century (Gattuso et al. Climate models project a rise in pCO 2 to levels of about 1000 ppm by the year 2100 (Raven et al. Anthropogenic activity has increased atmospheric greenhouse gases concentration, particularly carbon dioxide (pCO 2), causing the oceans to become warmer and more acidic (Dupont and Pörtner 2013 Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change 2018). Future studies may focus on understanding the interacting effect of climatic stressors on morphology, biomechanics and energetics of steady and unsteady swimming, across ontogeny and species.Ĭlimate change is considered one of the biggest challenges for governments and managers as it may significantly accelerate loss of biodiversity (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change 2018 Arneth et al. Traits such as intraspecific variability in response to climatic stressors, wide geographic range, thermotaxis, fast swimming or low energetic costs of locomotion are likely to enhance the capacity to disperse. In this review we integrate findings from work on locomotion of marine sharks and rays to identify characteristics that outline potential vulnerabilities and strength of sharks and rays under climate change. In fact, efficient and high locomotor performance may determine the capacity for elasmobranchs to relocate to a more favorable area. Dispersal capacity, as a result of locomotor performance, is a crucial trait that will determine which group of elasmobranchs will be more or less vulnerable to changes in the environment. Several studies spanning the last decade have reported widespread effects of warming and acidification on marine fishes, especially teleosts, but more work is needed to elucidate the responses in marine elasmobranchs, i.e., sharks and rays. Climate change stressors (e.g., warming and ocean acidification) are an imminent challenge to the physiological performance of marine organisms.
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