THE EFFECTS OF CLIMATE CHANGE ON MARINE BIODIVERSITY

Abstract

Climate change has become one of the greatest threats to the marine ecosystem, which has a severe impact on sea temperature, ocean chemistry, circulation, and ocean level. The marine biodiversity that covers a large variety of species including microscopic planktons, large marine mammals are exceptionally sensitive to such changes since it is based on the stable environmental conditions. Increasing sea surface temperature, marine acidification, marine deoxygenation, and changes in ocean currents have caused changes in species distribution, ecological interactions and coral bleaching and marine habitat loss is on the rise. This paper discusses the consequences of climate change to marine biodiversity, focusing on understanding the major stressors and how they have influenced the species composition, structure of the ecosystem and ecological resilience. The study relies on secondary information on global marine biodiversity databases, climate models, and published ecological literature to compare tendencies in the decline of species, degradation of habitats and ecosystem changes in various marine environments. The results indicate that there is a tremendous loss in biodiversity in the coral reefs, polar region and coastal ecosystems with thousands of impacts on fisheries, food security and human livelihoods. The paper identifies the importance of the need to develop conservation strategies, climate mitigation policies and adaptive marine management to ensure the protection of marine biodiversity amid a rapidly changing climate.