What do we know, and where do we go from here?

GONZÁLEZ, RAÚL A.; NARVARTE, MAITE A.; VILLAFAÑE, VIRGINIA E.; HELBLING, E. WALTER

Global change in Atlantic coastal Patagonian ecosystems: A journey through time

Springer Nature

Año: 2022; p. 447 - 453

Throughout this book, we showed how the different drivers of global change(GC), whether of climatic or of anthropic origin, shaped the environment,biodiversity, and human societies of Atlantic Patagonia. While the changes inclimate have been rather mild so far, or perhaps remained hidden over time,the evidence indicates that the anthropogenic factors have been the main causalagents of deterioration of environmental quality and losses of biodiversity ofthe coastal marine ecosystem. Therefore, any strategy for adaptation to GCshould focus on the recognition of the human dimension as a causal sourceof problems and on the search for solutions within that context. However, thelarge evidence of the effects of anthropic causes should not hide the importanceof climatic stressors. The climate in Patagonia has been warmed up since 1950,and this trend will probably continue in the future. Extreme rain events are alsoexpected to increase, and wind intensity is showing a clear negative trend formost of the coastal areas, confirming a pattern of change. In the ocean realm,the sea surface temperature (SST) shows a significant positive trend north of~50°S and negative south of this latitude, and it is expected to continue inthe future. Likewise, an increase in acidification of the ocean surface between-0.35 and - 0.40 is expected to occur over the next 70 years (Hoegh-Guldberget al. 2014).