Environmental Studies and Forestry

Climate-driven global redistribution of an ocean giant predicts increased threat from shipping

F. C. Womersley, L. L. Sousa, et al.

This groundbreaking study reveals that climate change is projected to drastically alter whale shark habitats, increasing their overlap with shipping routes. With serious implications for conservation efforts, the research highlights a potential habitat loss of over 50% in some areas by 2100. Conducted by an extensive team of researchers including Freya C. Womersley and Lara L. Sousa, the findings urge for immediate attention to climate-impact predictions.

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Playback language: English

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Abstract

Climate change is shifting animal distributions, but the extent to which future global habitats of threatened marine megafauna will overlap existing human threats remains unresolved. This study uses global climate models and habitat suitability estimated from whale shark tracking data to show that climate change will increase the overlap of whale shark habitats with global shipping. The model projects core habitat area losses of >50% in some national waters by 2100, with geographic shifts of over 1,000 km. Increased habitat suitability is predicted in current range-edge areas, increasing shark-ship co-occurrence. This future increase was ~15,000 times greater under high emissions compared with a sustainable development scenario, highlighting the need for quantitative climate-threat predictions in conservation assessments.

Publisher

Nature Climate Change

Published On

Oct 07, 2024

Authors

Freya C. Womersley, Lara L. Sousa, Nicolas E. Humphries, Kátya Abrantes, Gonzalo Araujo, Steffen S. Bach, Adam Barnett, Michael L. Berumen, Sandra Bessudo Lion, Camrin D. Braun, Elizabeth Clingham, Jesse E. M. Cochran, Rafael de la Parra, Stella Diamant, Alistair D. M. Dove, Carlos M. Duarte, Christine L. Dudgeon, Mark V. Erdmann, Eduardo Espinoza, Luciana C. Ferreira, Richard Fitzpatrick, Jaime González Cano, Jonathan R. Green, Hector M. Guzman, Royale Hardenstine, Abdi Hasan, Fábio H. V. Hazin, Alex R. Hearn, Robert E. Hueter, Mohammed Y. Jaidah, Jessica Labaja, Felipe Ladino, Bruno C. L. Macena, Mark G. Meekan, John J. Morris Jr., Bradley M. Norman, Cesar R. Peñaherrera-Palma, Simon J. Pierce, Lina Maria Quintero, Dení Ramírez-Macías, Samantha D. Reynolds, David P. Robinson, Christoph A. Rohner, David R. L. Rowat, Ana M. M. Sequeira, Marcus Sheaves, Mahmood S. Shivji, Abraham B. Sianipar, Gregory B. Skomal, German Soler, Ismail Syakurachman, Simon R. Thorrold, Michele Thums, John P. Tyminski, D. Harry Webb, Bradley M. Wetherbee, Nuno Queiroz, David W. Sims

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