Researchers report collapse of native biodiversity in Mediterranean Sea along the coast of Israel

The water temperatures along the coastline of Israel are among the highest in the Mediterranean Sea. With rising sea temperatures the conditions go beyond the tolerance range of marine species in this area, leading to a biodiversity loss as many species are going locally extinct. The fact that no living individuals of many species, but only shells of these species can be found in the sediments indicates that these species were lost in recent years or decades. According to an analysis the number of native species on shallow subtidal hard substrates has declined by 95%. Instead the region is now dominated by tropical non-native species, whose migration is enabled through the Suez channel.

The full scientific article can be found here.