Sandy beaches are being threatened by a changing climate. However, the effects of this changing environment, including warming, on these ecosystems, have hitherto been tentative and qualitative. Using concurrent long-term (1984−2007) observations on abundance and individual size, together with laboratory examinations of body abnormalities (morphological anomalies and epibionts), we provide evidence that the sandy beach yellow clam Mesodesma mactroides of the Uruguayan coast has responded to climate change.

The fledging mass of penguin chicks can be an indicator of food availability and environmental conditions at a penguin colony. For the period 1989 to 2011, we analyzed predictor variables of environmental and food resource factors acting on multiple spatial scales near Palmer Station, Antarctica, that may influence the interannual variability in Adélie penguin chick fledging mass (CFM). To understand the influence of parental Adélie penguin diet on CFM, we modeled the energy density and krill demographics of penguin diet samples.

The researchers performed a global assessment of how fish biomass has changed over the last 100 years, applying a previously developed methodology using ecological modeling. Our assessment built on more than 200 food web models representing marine ecosystems throughout the world covering the period from 1880 yo 2007. All models were constructed based on the same approach, and have been previously documented.