Knowledge and implications of global change in the oceans for biology, ecology, and ecosystem services - Ocean Sustainability in the 21st Century - page 135

4.3 Effects of global change on marine habitats
Global warming is an additional, more recent threat to marine habitats' integrity (Hughes et
al., 2003 ; Harley et al., 2006 ; Lotze et al., 2006 ; Orth et al., 2006 ; Poloczanska et al., 2007 ;
Hawkins et al., 2008 ) . Climate change is expected to have a range of effects on marine eco-
systems, their function and biodiversity. Some effects may be related to changing water tem-
peratures, circulation and/or changing habitat, while others occur through altered pathways
within biogeochemical cycles and foodwebs (Ramirez-Llodra et al., 2010 ; 2011 ) . The re-
sponse of marine systems to climate change also depends on interactions with other human-
inducedchangesinthemarine environment. Forexample, fishinghasreducedthenumberof
large fish at higher trophic levels worldwide (Myers and Worm, 2003 ) whilst increasing ag-
ricultural, industrial, and household activities have resulted in nutrient enrichment of many
coastal regions (Schindler, 2006 ) . These and other global changes, such as ocean acidific-
ation (Royal Society, 2005 ) and the introduction of non-native species (Doney, 2010 ) , are
likely to result in more fragile marine ecosystems, which will challenge the effectiveness of
management strategies that may be implemented to reduce the impacts of climate change
(Hoegh-Guldberg and Bruno, 2010 ).