title: Climate-driven regime shift of a temperate marine ecosystem.
abstract: Ecosystem reconfigurations arising from climate-driven changes in species distributions are expected to have profound ecological, social, and economic implications. Here we reveal a rapid climate-driven regime shift of Australian temperate reef communities, which lost their defining kelp forests and became dominated by persistent seaweed turfs. After decades of ocean warming, extreme marine heat waves forced a 100-kilometer range contraction of extensive kelp forests and saw temperate species replaced by seaweeds, invertebrates, corals, and fishes characteristic of subtropical and tropical waters. This community-wide tropicalization fundamentally altered key ecological processes, suppressing the recovery of kelp forests.
authors.affiliation: School of Plant Biology and Oceans Institute, The University of Western Australia, 39 Fairway, Crawley, Western Australia 6009, Australia. thomas.wernberg@uwa.edu.au.
authors.forename: Thomas
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Wernberg
authors.affiliation: School of Plant Biology and Oceans Institute, The University of Western Australia, 39 Fairway, Crawley, Western Australia 6009, Australia. Department of Environment and Agriculture, School of Science, Curtin University, Bentley, Western Australia 6102, Australia. Department of Global Change Research, Institut Mediterrani d'Estudis Avançats (Universitat de les Illes Balears - Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas), Esporles, Spain.
authors.forename: Scott
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Bennett
authors.affiliation: School of Plant Biology and Oceans Institute, The University of Western Australia, 39 Fairway, Crawley, Western Australia 6009, Australia. Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) Oceans and Atmosphere, General Post Office Box 2583, Brisbane, Queensland 4001, Australia.
authors.forename: Russell C
authors.initials: RC
authors.lastname: Babcock
authors.affiliation: School of Plant Biology and Oceans Institute, The University of Western Australia, 39 Fairway, Crawley, Western Australia 6009, Australia. Service du Patrimoine Naturel, Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle, 36 Rue Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire CP41, Paris 75005, France.
authors.forename: Thibaut
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: de Bettignies
authors.affiliation: School of Plant Biology and Oceans Institute, The University of Western Australia, 39 Fairway, Crawley, Western Australia 6009, Australia. Australian Institute of Marine Science, 39 Fairway, Crawley, Western Australia 6009, Australia.
authors.forename: Katherine
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Cure
authors.affiliation: Australian Institute of Marine Science, 39 Fairway, Crawley, Western Australia 6009, Australia.
authors.forename: Martial
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Depczynski
authors.affiliation: CSIRO Oceans and Atmosphere Flagship, Private Bag 5, Wembley, Western Australia 6913, Australia.
authors.forename: Francois
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Dufois
authors.affiliation: Western Australian Museum, Locked Bag 49, Welshpool DC, Western Australia 6986, Australia.
authors.forename: Jane
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Fromont
authors.affiliation: Research School of Biology, The Australian National University, Canberra, Australian Capital Territory 2601, Australia.
authors.forename: Christopher J
authors.initials: CJ
authors.lastname: Fulton
authors.affiliation: School of Plant Biology and Oceans Institute, The University of Western Australia, 39 Fairway, Crawley, Western Australia 6009, Australia.
authors.forename: Renae K
authors.initials: RK
authors.lastname: Hovey
authors.affiliation: Department of Environment and Agriculture, School of Science, Curtin University, Bentley, Western Australia 6102, Australia.
authors.forename: Euan S
authors.initials: ES
authors.lastname: Harvey
authors.affiliation: School of Plant Biology and Oceans Institute, The University of Western Australia, 39 Fairway, Crawley, Western Australia 6009, Australia. Marine Science Program, Science Division, Department of Parks and Wildlife, Kensington, Western Australia 6151, Australia.
authors.forename: Thomas H
authors.initials: TH
authors.lastname: Holmes
authors.affiliation: School of Plant Biology and Oceans Institute, The University of Western Australia, 39 Fairway, Crawley, Western Australia 6009, Australia.
authors.forename: Gary A
authors.initials: GA
authors.lastname: Kendrick
authors.affiliation: Australian Institute of Marine Science, 39 Fairway, Crawley, Western Australia 6009, Australia. School of Geography and Environmental Science, The University of Western Australia, 39 Fairway, Crawley, Western Australia 6009, Australia.
authors.forename: Ben
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Radford
authors.affiliation: School of Plant Biology and Oceans Institute, The University of Western Australia, 39 Fairway, Crawley, Western Australia 6009, Australia. Department of Environment and Agriculture, School of Science, Curtin University, Bentley, Western Australia 6102, Australia. Department of Global Change Research, Institut Mediterrani d'Estudis Avançats (Universitat de les Illes Balears - Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas), Esporles, Spain.
authors.forename: Julia
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Santana-Garcon
authors.affiliation: Department of Environment and Agriculture, School of Science, Curtin University, Bentley, Western Australia 6102, Australia.
authors.forename: Benjamin J
authors.initials: BJ
authors.lastname: Saunders
authors.affiliation: School of Plant Biology and Oceans Institute, The University of Western Australia, 39 Fairway, Crawley, Western Australia 6009, Australia. School of Geography and Environmental Science, The University of Western Australia, 39 Fairway, Crawley, Western Australia 6009, Australia.
authors.forename: Dan A
authors.initials: DA
authors.lastname: Smale
authors.affiliation: School of Plant Biology and Oceans Institute, The University of Western Australia, 39 Fairway, Crawley, Western Australia 6009, Australia. Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom, The Laboratory, Citadel Hill, Plymouth PL1 2PB, UK.
authors.forename: Mads S
authors.initials: MS
authors.lastname: Thomsen
authors.affiliation: School of Plant Biology and Oceans Institute, The University of Western Australia, 39 Fairway, Crawley, Western Australia 6009, Australia.
authors.forename: Chenae A
authors.initials: CA
authors.lastname: Tuckett
authors.affiliation: Marine Ecology Group, School of Biological Sciences, The University of Canterbury, Private Bag 4800, Christchurch, New Zealand.
authors.forename: Fernando
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Tuya
authors.affiliation: CSIRO Oceans and Atmosphere Flagship, Private Bag 5, Wembley, Western Australia 6913, Australia.
authors.forename: Mathew A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Vanderklift
authors.affiliation: School of Plant Biology and Oceans Institute, The University of Western Australia, 39 Fairway, Crawley, Western Australia 6009, Australia. Marine Science Program, Science Division, Department of Parks and Wildlife, Kensington, Western Australia 6151, Australia.
authors.forename: Shaun
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Wilson
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D037421:Anthozoa / Q000502:physiology*; D001315:Australia; D057231:Climate Change; D057894:Coral Reefs; D053476:Extinction, Biological; D005399:Fishes; D044423:Kelp / Q000502:physiology*; D012623:Seawater; D013696:Temperature; D014329:Tropical Climate