Storm-battered fish under pressure of climate change: New Zealand study

Increasingly intense storms driven by climate change could endanger sea life living near coastlines, a New Zealand researcher said Thursday.

The Victoria University research found that marine predators living near coasts struggled to cope with the environmental disturbance of storms.

The study was focused on the triplefin, a small fish found in shallow reefs and tidal pools around New Zealand, where they experience some of the hardest impacts of big waves.

The triplefin found ate a higher proportion of their prey in calmer conditions, researcher Becky Focht said in a statement.

"Fish that live in more wave-exposed areas are bigger, but when there are more waves they eat significantly less prey," said Focht.

"I'm not yet sure why, but it does suggest that predators are more adversely affected by environmental stress than prey. This could have larger implications - a decline in predation rate or boost to populations of prey."

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change had forecast that rising global temperatures would mean increased intensity of storms, including tropical cyclones with higher wind speeds, a wetter Asian monsoon and possibly more intense mid-latitude storms.

Marine species have mechanisms to survive these events, but human activity was pushing the limit.

"Humans rely on the oceans for food, transport, energy and recreation, but this takes a toll on the millions of marine species that live in them," said Focht.

"It's important that we understand what their coping strategies are to determine the long-term impacts of humans." Endit