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Cited by 1,971Marine Biology and Ecology ResearchPhysiological and biochemical adaptationsEnvironmental Toxicology and Ecotoxicology

Thresholds of hypoxia for marine biodiversity

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Vaquer-Sunyer, Raquel, Duarte, Carlos M.·2008·Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
DOI 10.1073/pnas.0803833105PMC PMC2556360
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Abstract

Hypoxia is a mounting problem affecting the world's coastal waters, with severe consequences for marine life, including death and catastrophic changes. Hypoxia is forecast to increase owing to the combined effects of the continued spread of coastal eutrophication and global warming. A broad comparative analysis across a range of contrasting marine benthic organisms showed that hypoxia thresholds vary greatly across marine benthic organisms and that the conventional definition of 2 mg O 2 /liter to designate waters as hypoxic is below the empirical sublethal and lethal O 2 thresholds for half of the species tested. These results imply that the number and area of coastal ecosystems affected by hypoxia and the future extent of hypoxia impacts on marine life have been generally underestimated.

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  • Meta-analyses have revealed interactions between warming, acidification, and hypoxia.

    “Interactive effects between climate change stressors is an area of growing interest and meta-analyses have revealed interactions between warming, acidification, and hypoxia (Crain et al., 2008;Vaquer-Sunyer and Duarte, 2008;Kroeker et al., 2013).”

    From Harmful algal blooms: A climate change co-stressor in marine and freshwater ecosystems (2020) · cites this paper as Vaquer-Sunyer and Duarte, 2008

    The Discussion reports that high temperature can increase marine animals’ oxygen requirements, supporting an interaction between warming and hypoxia. The paper’s comparative analysis concerns hypoxia thresholds; it does not report a meta-analysis revealing interactions among warming, acidification, and hypoxia. (LLM, conf=0.87)

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Authors
Vaquer-Sunyer, R., & Duarte, C. M.
Affiliations
  • Department of Global Change Research, Instituto Mediterraneo de Estudios Avanzados (Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Cientificas-Universidad de las Islas Baleares), Esporles (Mallorca) 07190, Spain
  • Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (ES)
ORCID
Duarte, Carlos M.
Venue
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
Publisher
National Academy of Sciences
Published
2008-10-07
Volume
105
Issue
40
Pages
15452-15457
ISSN
  • 0027-8424 (ISSN-L)
  • 1091-6490
DOI
10.1073/pnas.0803833105
PMC
PMC2556360
OpenAlex
W1976403158
Cited by
1,971
References
1
Citations by year
2026: 153 · 2025: 150 · 2024: 172 · 2023: 194 · 2022: 147 · 2021: 168 · 2020: 130 · 2019: 114 · 2018: 105 · 2017: 100 · 2016: 103 · 2015: 81 · 2014: 65 · 2013: 73 · 2012: 69
FWCI
33.71
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Locations
  • Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed Central (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • UWA Profiles and Research Repository (UWA) (submittedVersion)
Topics
  • Physical Sciences › Earth and Planetary Sciences › Oceanography › Marine Biology and Ecology Research
  • Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Ecology › Physiological and biochemical adaptations
  • Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Health, Toxicology and Mutagenesis › Environmental Toxicology and Ecotoxicology
Keywords
hypoxia, marine biodiversity, benthic organisms, oxygen threshold, sublethal effects, lethal effects, coastal eutrophication, global warming, coastal waters, marine ecosystem impacts
MeSH terms
Adaptation, Physiological, Animals, Eutrophication, Oxygen, Greenhouse Effect, Ecosystem, Biodiversity

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