The humble bearded goby is a keystone species in Namibia's marine ecosystem

Moloney, Coleen

The humble bearded goby is a keystone species in Namibia's marine ecosystem

Journal Article

2010

Journal Title

South African Journal of Science

Link to Journal

http://www.scielo.org.za/

Publisher

University of Cape Town

Department

Department of Biological Sciences

Faculty

Faculty of Science

Abstract

Marine ecosystems are dynamic and fluid environments. Sessile organisms must cope with the variable conditions delivered to them, whereas motile species either drift or move in response to local conditions. When the physical and chemical environment changes, there are numerous possible outcomes and responses by the constituent species. A focus of current marine ecosystem research is to understand how changes in driving variables (such as increases in fishing effort, warming sea temperatures and increased concentrations of pollutants, with concomitant decreases in pH and habitat degradation) will affect species composition and productivity. In the past two decades, studies of marine ecosystems under global change have received much attention.1 The goal of these studies is to predict how continuing changes might manifest in the face of global pressures. Organisms are able to adapt and evolve to accommodate changing environments, which might introduce unpredictable elements that can be responsible for further changes in those environments.

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