Anthropogenic CO2 emissions are rapidly changing seawater temperature, pH and carbonate chemistry. This study compares the embryonic development under high pCO2conditions across the south-north distribution range of the marine clam Limecola balthicain NW Europe. The combined effects of elevated temperature and reduced pH on hatching success and size varied strongly between the three studied populations, with the Gulf of Finland population appearing most endangered under the conditions predicted to occur by 2100. These results demonstrate that the assessment of marine faunal population persistence to future climatic conditions needs to consider the interactive effects of co-occurring physico-chemical alterations in seawater within the local context that determines population fitness, adaptation potential and the system resilience to environmental change.
Distribution of biomass (ash free dry weight in g/m²) for 10 key species modeled with random forests method.Macrozoobenthic data from 1191 sampling stations located in the German part of the Baltic Sea were analyzed (data sources: Leibniz Institute for Baltic Sea Research). Samples have been collected from 1999 to 2015. Sample data were averaged per stations and standardized to the area of 1 m².For modeling R package “Random Forest” (RF, Version 4.6–7, Liaw and Wiener, 2002), based on random forests statistical analysis (Breiman, 2001) is used.Predictors and modeling algorithm as described in Gogina, M., Morys, C., Forster, S., Gräwe, U., Friedland, R., Zettler, M.L. 2017. Towards benthic ecosystem functioning maps: Quantifying bioturbation potential in the German part of the Baltic Sea. Ecological Indicators 73: 574-588. doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolind.2016.10.025