The effect of climate change on the distribution of a tropical zoanthid (Palythoa caribaeorum) and its ecological implications.

ABSTRACT: Palythoa caribaeorum is a zoanthid often dominant in shallow rocky environments along the west coast of the Atlantic Ocean, from the tropics to the subtropics. This species has high environmental tolerance and is a good space competitor in reef environments. Considering current and future scenarios in the global climate regime, this study aimed to model and analyze the distribution of P. caribaeorum, generating maps of potential distribution for the present and the year 2100. The distribution was modeled using maximum entropy (Maxent) based on 327 occurrence sites retrieved from the literature. Calcite concentration, maximum chlorophyll-a concentration, salinity, pH, and temperature range yielded a model with the smallest Akaike information criterion (2649.8), and were

SUBMITTER: Durante LM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5960586 | biostudies-literature | 2018

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature