Poleward expatriation of tropical marine organisms is occurring globally, linked to climate change via strengthening of Western Boundary Currents (WBCs). In summer 2016, there was an unprecedented (in 18 years of monitoring) influx of coral-reef fish juveniles (“vagrants”) in temperate SE Australia. However, a large climate change-linked storm event (“East Coast low”) in June 2016 wiped out large numbers of these fishes over several days, as well as severely altering coastal habitat. Some taxa (e.g. Acanthuridae: surgeonfishes, key habitat modifiers) were decimated with up to 95% loss, while others (e.g. Pomacentridae: damselfishes, under 5% loss) fared better. The storm altered habitat (boulder “barens” were exposed by large-scale removal of macroalgae) with new barrens supporting over fifty times more tropical fish recruits in the following year (2017) than surrounding kelp-dominated areas. Fish were more vulnerable to storm effects in exposed habitats, and some species exhibited size-selective losses. Such climate-related storms can decouple links between poleward fish shifts and more predictable climate effects such as sea temperature rise.

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反对气候变化对向极移的珊瑚礁鱼类的影响

热带海洋生物的极地外迁正在全球范围内发生，通过加强西部边界流 (WBC) 与气候变化有关。2016 年夏天，澳大利亚东南部温带的珊瑚礁鱼幼鱼（“流浪者”）出现了前所未有的（在 18 年的监测中）涌入。然而，2016 年 6 月的一场与气候变化相关的大型风暴事件（“东海岸低气压”）在几天内消灭了大量这些鱼类，并严重改变了沿海栖息地。一些分类群（例如棘鱼科：刺尾鱼，关键栖息地修饰符）被大量减少，损失高达 95%，而其他分类群（例如 Pomacentridae：雀鲷，损失低于 5%）表现更好。风暴改变了栖息地（巨石“贫瘠之地”因大型藻类的大规模清除而暴露），新的贫瘠之地在第二年（2017 年）支持的热带鱼数量是周围海藻占主导地位的地区的 50 多倍。在暴露的栖息地，鱼类更容易受到风暴影响，一些物种表现出尺寸选择性损失。这种与气候相关的风暴可以使鱼类向极地迁移与更可预测的气候影响（如海水温度上升）之间的联系脱钩。