The main goal of the Paris Climate Accords is to keep the rise in mean global temperature well below a maximum of 2°C above pre-industrial levels, recognizing that this would substantially temper the effects of global warming. As regards the Mediterranean Basin, mean temperatures have increased 1.4°C since the late XIX century (i.e., distinctly more than the global average of +1.1°C), and they are projected to increase by an additional 1.5°C by 2050 in case of no decarbonization. During the Pliocene, temperatures were 2–3°C higher than today, which means that the Mediterranean Pliocene palaeoenvironments may provide a much realistic example of what the Mediterranean Sea might become in a not-so-far future (would we fail the main goal of the Paris Agreement). Thus, we may turn to vertebrate palaeontology to envision how the Mediterranean fauna would look like in perspective. Pufferfishes (Tetraodontiformes: Tetraodontidae) are instructive in this respect. Until the XIX century, a single pufferfish species, Lagocephalus lagocephalus, was known to inhabit the Mediterranean for sure, being rarely reported from the waters off Sicily. Nowadays, as many as six more pufferfish species are spreading across the Mediterranean, representing some of the more striking examples of "lessepsian immigrants" that have entered the eastern portion of the basin through the Suez Canal. These include the poisonous pufferfish Lagocephalus sceleratus, which currently represents 4% of the weight of total artisan catches in the Eastern Mediterranean. Pliocene fossils of Tetraodontidae, mostly consisting of premaxillae and dentaries, are fairly common in the Mediterranean area as north as in Tuscany and Emilia-Romagna (Adriatic palaeo-area), taking their place besides thermophilic relics of the Tethys ocean and other warm-water, currently extraMediterranean taxa (e.g., the tiger shark, Galeocerdo cuvier) that may be on the cusp of re-entering the basin. The whole Mediterranean could thus become a sea of pufferfishes.
A sea of pufferfishes: how vertebrate palaeontology can shed light on the future of an iconic Mediterranean bioinvasion
Pieri Alice
Primo
;Merella MarcoSecondo
;Collareta AlbertoUltimo
2023-01-01
Abstract
The main goal of the Paris Climate Accords is to keep the rise in mean global temperature well below a maximum of 2°C above pre-industrial levels, recognizing that this would substantially temper the effects of global warming. As regards the Mediterranean Basin, mean temperatures have increased 1.4°C since the late XIX century (i.e., distinctly more than the global average of +1.1°C), and they are projected to increase by an additional 1.5°C by 2050 in case of no decarbonization. During the Pliocene, temperatures were 2–3°C higher than today, which means that the Mediterranean Pliocene palaeoenvironments may provide a much realistic example of what the Mediterranean Sea might become in a not-so-far future (would we fail the main goal of the Paris Agreement). Thus, we may turn to vertebrate palaeontology to envision how the Mediterranean fauna would look like in perspective. Pufferfishes (Tetraodontiformes: Tetraodontidae) are instructive in this respect. Until the XIX century, a single pufferfish species, Lagocephalus lagocephalus, was known to inhabit the Mediterranean for sure, being rarely reported from the waters off Sicily. Nowadays, as many as six more pufferfish species are spreading across the Mediterranean, representing some of the more striking examples of "lessepsian immigrants" that have entered the eastern portion of the basin through the Suez Canal. These include the poisonous pufferfish Lagocephalus sceleratus, which currently represents 4% of the weight of total artisan catches in the Eastern Mediterranean. Pliocene fossils of Tetraodontidae, mostly consisting of premaxillae and dentaries, are fairly common in the Mediterranean area as north as in Tuscany and Emilia-Romagna (Adriatic palaeo-area), taking their place besides thermophilic relics of the Tethys ocean and other warm-water, currently extraMediterranean taxa (e.g., the tiger shark, Galeocerdo cuvier) that may be on the cusp of re-entering the basin. The whole Mediterranean could thus become a sea of pufferfishes.I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.
