Identifying marine climate refugia to advance climate-smart conservation

Marina Sanz-Martín1, Carolina Olguín-Jacobson2, Jessica A Bolin3

  • 1Spanish Institute of Oceanography (IEO, CSIC), Balearic Oceanographic Center, Group of Ecosystem Oceanography (GRECO), Palma, Balearic Islands, Spain; Hopkins Marine Station, Oceans Department, Stanford University, Pacific Grove, CA 93950, USA; School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences, Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, NY 11794, USA.

Summary

Marine climate refugia offer a promising climate adaptation strategy by being less impacted by climate change. Conserving these ocean areas enhances resilience and biodiversity against intensifying climate threats.

Related Concept Videos

Conservation of Declining Populations02:07

Conservation of Declining Populations

Conservation of declining population focuses on ways of detecting, diagnosing, and halting a population decline. The approach uses methods to prevent populations from going extinct.
Conservation of Small Populations02:04

Conservation of Small Populations

Small population sizes put a species at extreme risk of extinction due to a lack of variation, and a consequent decrease in adaptability. This weakens the chances of survival under pressures such as climate change, competition from other species, or new diseases. Large populations are more likely to survive pressures such as these, as such populations are more likely to harbor individuals that have genetic variants that are adaptive under new stresses. Small populations are much less likely to...
Marine Microbial Ecology01:30

Marine Microbial Ecology

Marine microbial ecosystems are shaped by distinct physicochemical limits, including high salinity, low nutrient availability, and fluctuating oxygen levels. These conditions favor smaller microbial cell sizes, which maximize their surface-to-volume ratio for efficient nutrient uptake.Microbial activity and community composition are closely linked to biogeochemical cycles, particularly in dynamic environments like estuaries, where halotolerant microbes thrive in response to variable salinity...
Adaptations that Reduce Water Loss01:57

Adaptations that Reduce Water Loss

Though evaporation from plant leaves drives transpiration, it also results in loss of water. Because water is critical for photosynthetic reactions and other cellular processes, evolutionary pressures on plants in different environments have driven the acquisition of adaptations that reduce water loss.
Microbes and Climate Change01:27

Microbes and Climate Change

Microorganisms are pivotal agents in Earth's biogeochemical cycles, significantly influencing climate dynamics through their metabolic activities. These microbes modulate the levels of key greenhouse gases by both contributing to and helping mitigate climate change.Microbial Contributions to Greenhouse Gas EmissionsRising global temperatures accelerate microbial metabolism, which, in turn, speeds up the decomposition of organic matter. This process releases carbon dioxide (CO₂) through...
Habitat Fragmentation02:31

Habitat Fragmentation

Habitat fragmentation describes the division of a more extensive, continuous habitat into smaller, discontinuous areas. Human activities such as land conversion, as well as slower geological processes leading to changes in the physical environment, are the two leading causes of habitat fragmentation. The fragmentation process typically follows the same steps: perforation, dissection, fragmentation, shrinkage, and attrition.