Chapter 06: Vulnerability of Great Barrier Reef plankton to climate change

Abstract

Our approach here is to examine potential ways that climate change may alter plankton communities of the GBR in the future, focusing on the physical mechanisms that currently drive plankton productivity and composition. Many of the oceanographic and climatic features of the western Coral Sea and GBR region and the ways in which they may be influenced by climate change are detailed in Steinberg (see chapter 3). Smaller members of the plankton such as the viruses and bacteria are covered by Webster and Hill (see chapter 5). Key reef-associated organisms with planktonic life stages such as crown-of-thorns starfish, corals, fish and jellyfish, as well as the ecosystem-level responses such as their recruitment and patch connectivity, will be covered by Kingsford and Welch (see chapter 18). Since there are no long time series of plankton data for waters of the GBR for assessing climaterelated trends and their drivers, and few detailed studies in the laboratory or in the field, this review necessarily draws on relevant knowledge from other ecosystems, tropical where possible, and others when required.