Researchers have found ocean warming is impacting the nutritional quality of seaweed as a food source for Blacklip abalone off eastern Tasmania, which is adversely affecting the body condition of these molluscs during warmer years. This research offers insights into how ocean warming causes stress on the state’s abalone stock and habitat.
In a recent project, IMAS researchers identified regional patterns in the nutritional quality of understory seaweeds that correlate with regional Blacklip abalone fishery productivity. They also determined that rising ocean temperatures and inorganic nutrient concentrations influenced the growth and photosynthesis – known as performance – and nutritional quality of key seaweeds in abalone habitat.
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