Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Editorial
. 2025 Aug;94(8):1481-1491.
doi: 10.1111/1365-2656.70084.

Novel contributions to marine heatwave ecology: Identifying and addressing knowledge gaps in ecological impacts

Daniel Gómez-Gras  1   2 , Cristina Linares  1   2 , Pol Capdevila  1   2
Affiliations
Editorial

Novel contributions to marine heatwave ecology: Identifying and addressing knowledge gaps in ecological impacts

Daniel Gómez-Gras et al. J Anim Ecol. 2025 Aug.

Abstract

As the climate crisis unfolds, marine heatwaves (MHWs), defined as discrete periods of anomalously high seawater temperatures, are emerging as one of the most pervasive threats to marine biodiversity worldwide. From coastal shallow waters to the deep sea, increasingly frequent and intense MHWs are reshaping ocean life at all levels of ecological organisation, undermining ecosystem resilience and compromising the provision of essential ecosystem services to human societies. This growing environmental challenge has rendered a new scientific discipline-marine heatwave ecology-which aims to advance our understanding, forecasting capacity and mitigation of MHW impacts on ecological systems. These priorities are central to marine science and conservation. Yet, despite increasing scientific attention, many critical research questions remain unresolved. In this cross-journal Special Feature, published across the Journal of Animal Ecology, Journal of Ecology and Functional Ecology, we present a collection of 13 studies that address some of the most pressing knowledge gaps in MHW ecology. These studies were conducted across diverse ocean basins and encompass a wide range of marine taxa, such as corals, macroalgae, seagrasses, molluscs, fish and plankton, among others. They span multiple levels of ecological organisation, from individual organisms to entire ecosystems, and employ a variety of methodologies and approaches. Collectively, the contributions to this special feature demonstrate how MHWs erode ecosystem resilience, reveal previously hidden biological and ecological impacts and show that vulnerability not only depends on thermal tolerance but also on environmental context. The studies also explore how MHW effects cascade up and down across levels of ecological organisation and reinforce the importance of applying ecological frameworks to better categorise and understand MHW dynamics. Finally, we have identified remaining knowledge gaps to guide future research, essential to further develop the MHW ecology field and to inform more effective conservation and management strategies. This will be especially urgent in the context of a rapidly warming ocean, where strong and recurrent MHWs are becoming the new normal.

Keywords: ecological disturbance; functional ecology; global change; marine ecology; thermal stress.

PubMed Disclaimer

References

REFERENCES

    1. Amaya, D. J., Jacox, M. G., Fewings, M. R., Saba, V. S., Stuecker, M. F., Rykaczewski, R. R., Ross, A. C., Stock, C. A., Capotondi, A., Petrik, C. M., Bograd, S. J., Alexander, M. A., Cheng, W., Hermann, A. J., Kearney, K. A., & Powell, B. S. (2023). Marine heatwaves need clear definitions so coastal communities can adapt. Nature, 616(7955), 29–32.
    1. Artana, C., Capitani, L., Santos Garcia, G., Angelini, R., & Coll, M. (2024). Food web trophic control modulates tropical Atlantic reef ecosystems response to marine heat wave intensity and duration. Journal of Animal Ecology, 94(8), 1492–1506. https://doi.org/10.1111/1365‐2656.14107
    1. Auth, T. D., Daly, E. A., Brodeur, R. D., & Fisher, J. L. (2018). Phenological and distributional shifts in ichthyoplankton associated with recent warming in the northeast Pacific Ocean. Global Change Biology, 24(1), 259–272. https://doi.org/10.1111/gcb.13872
    1. Barbier, E. B. (2017). Marine ecosystem services. Current Biology, 27(11), R507–R510. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2017.03.020
    1. Barria, A. M., & Bacigalupe, L. D. (2017). Intraspecific geographic variation in thermal limits and acclimatory capacity in a wide distributed endemic frog. Journal of Thermal Biology, 69, 254–260. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jtherbio.2017.08.010

Publication types