Invasive Species and Climate Change Impact Coastal Estuaries

by Kat Kerlin, UC Davis
May 5, 2022

Native species in California’s estuaries are expected to experience greater declines as invasive species interact with climate change, according to a study from the University of California, Davis.

The study, published in the Ecological Society of America’s journal, Ecology, said these declines are expected not only because of climate-related stressors, but also because of the expanding influence of new invasive predators whose impacts are occurring much farther up the estuary.

“Our study found that climate change and biological invasions can interact in coastal estuaries in unpredictable ways,” said lead author Benjamin Rubinoff, a Ph.D. student in the UC Davis Department of Environmental Science and Policy when the research was conducted. “This increased risk of predation makes it difficult for native species that are already dealing with increasingly stressful environmental conditions.”

Keep reading: https://www.ucdavis.edu/news/invasive-species-and-climate-change-impact-coastal-estuaries

Read the Ecology paper: https://esajournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/ecy.3695