Coma Rafel, Ribes Marta, Serrano Eduard, Jiménez Eroteida, Salat Jordi, Pascual Josep
Centre d'Estudis Avançats de Blanes (CEAB-CSIC), Accés Cala Sant Francesc 14, 17300 Blanes, Girona, Catalonia, Spain.
Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2009 Apr 14;106(15):6176-81. doi: 10.1073/pnas.0805801106. Epub 2009 Mar 30.
Summer conditions in the Mediterranean Sea are characterized by high temperatures and low food availability. This leads to "summer dormancy" in many benthic suspension feeders due to energetic constraints. Analysis of the most recent 33-year temperature time series demonstrated enhanced stratification due to global warming, which produced a approximately 40% lengthening of summer conditions. Many biological processes are expected to be affected by this trend, culminating in such events as mass mortality of invertebrates. Climatic anomalies concomitant with the occurrence of these events represent prolonged exposure to warmer summer conditions coupled with reduced food resources. Simulation of the effects of these conditions on a model organism demonstrated a biomass loss of >35%. Losses of this magnitude result in mortality similar to that noted in field observations during mass mortality events. These results indicate that temperature anomalies are the underlying cause of the events, with energetic constraints serving as the main triggering mechanism.
地中海夏季的特点是气温高且食物供应少。这导致许多底栖悬浮生物因能量限制而进入“夏季休眠”。对最近33年温度时间序列的分析表明，由于全球变暖，分层现象加剧，使得夏季状况延长了约40%。预计许多生物过程都会受到这一趋势的影响，最终导致无脊椎动物大量死亡等事件。与这些事件同时发生的气候异常意味着生物长时间暴露在温暖的夏季环境中，同时食物资源减少。对这些条件对一种模式生物影响的模拟表明，生物量损失超过35%。这种程度的损失导致的死亡率与大规模死亡事件期间实地观察到的死亡率相似。这些结果表明，温度异常是这些事件的根本原因，能量限制是主要触发机制。
