Possible change in distribution of seaweed, Sargassum horneri, in northeast Asia under A2 scenario of global warming and consequent effect on some fish.
Global warming effects on seaweed beds are already perceptible. Their geographical distributions greatly depend on water temperatures. To predict future geographical distributions of brown alga, Sargassum horneri, forming large beds in the northwestern Pacific, we referred to future monthly surface water temperatures at about 1.1° of longitude and 0.6° of latitude in February and August in 2050 and 2100 simulated by 12 organizations under an A2 scenario of global warming. The southern limit of S. horneri distribution is expected to keep moving northward such that it may broadly disappear from Honshu Island, the Chinese coast, and Korean Peninsula in 2100, when tropical Sargassum species such as Sargassum tenuifolium may not completely replace S. horneri. Thus, their forests in 2100 do not substitute those of S. horneri in 2000. Fishes using the beds and seaweed rafts consisting of S. horneri in East China Sea suffer these disappearances.
Atmosphere and Ocean Research Institute, The University of Tokyo, 5-1-5, Kashiwanoha, Kashiwa 277-8564, Japan. Electronic address: komatsu@aori.u-tokyo.ac.jp.
Teruhisa
T
Komatsu
Atmosphere and Ocean Research Institute, The University of Tokyo, 5-1-5, Kashiwanoha, Kashiwa 277-8564, Japan.
Masahiro
M
Fukuda
Atmosphere and Ocean Research Institute, The University of Tokyo, 5-1-5, Kashiwanoha, Kashiwa 277-8564, Japan.
Atsuko
A
Mikami
Atmosphere and Ocean Research Institute, The University of Tokyo, 5-1-5, Kashiwanoha, Kashiwa 277-8564, Japan.
Shizuha
S
Mizuno
Atmosphere and Ocean Research Institute, The University of Tokyo, 5-1-5, Kashiwanoha, Kashiwa 277-8564, Japan.
Attachai
A
Kantachumpoo
Atmosphere and Ocean Research Institute, The University of Tokyo, 5-1-5, Kashiwanoha, Kashiwa 277-8564, Japan.
Hideaki
H
Tanoue
Frontier Research Center for Global Change, Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology, 3173-25, Showacho, Kanazawaku, Yokohama 236-0001, Japan.
Michio
M
Kawamiya
D000818:Animals; D001208:Asia; D005399:Fishes / Q000502:physiology*; D057232:Global Warming; D011157:Population Dynamics; D044647:Sargassum / Q000502:physiology*; D012623:Seawater / Q000737:chemistry; D013696:Temperature
A2 scenario; Global warming; Northwestern Asia; SST; Sargassum horneri; Seaweed beds and rafts