Global Cold-Water Coral Biodiversity Redistribution Under Projected Climate Change.

ABSTRACT: Cold-water corals (CWCs) are key ecosystem-structuring species across the world's oceans, yet their global distribution, diversity patterns, and vulnerability to climate change remain poorly understood. Here, we delineated the global biogeography of CWCs and assessed how their biodiversity patterns may shift under future climate change scenarios. Using an ensemble of machine-learning models, we predicted the distributions of 741 CWC species, spanning Octocoralia, Scleractinia, Antipatharia, Zoanthidae, Pennatulacea, and Filifera, under present-day conditions and forecasted changes in species richness, community composition, and climate refugia under two contrasting Shared Socioeconomic Pathways (SSP1-1.9 and SSP3-7.0). Further, we identified biogeographic regions based on species co-occurr

SUBMITTER: Fragkopoulou E 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12541565 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature