English: Predicted change in northeast Atlantic benthic marine flora if CO2 emissions continue
In the Arctic region (Fig. 1A), warming will be detrimental to cold-adapted species, and acidification will corrode maerl (M.). Pacific species, for example, Alaria marginata (Am), will invade as polar ice melts, competing with native species such as Laminaria hyperborea (Lh) and Alaria esculenta (Ae). Fleshy invasives, for example, Sargassum muticum (Sm), will move north competing with fucoids, for example, Fucus distichus (Fd), in the intertidal. Acidification will corrode epiphytic calcified algae, for example, Titanoderma pustulatum (Tp), and increased CO2 levels will stimulate growth of diatoms (D.) (magnified circles) and seagrasses such as Zostera marina (Zm). In the Boreal region (Fig. 1B), which comprises much of the UK’s coasts, Laminaria hyperborea (Lh) forests will be increasingly dominated by Laminaria ochroleuca (Lo), with the loss of Alaria esculenta (Ae) and fucoids, for example, Fucus vesiculosus (Fv) and the continued spread of invasive Undaria pinnatifida (Up), Sargassum muticum (Sm), and Grateloupia turuturu (Gt). As in the Arctic, maerl beds will be corroded, seagrasses will thrive, but epiphytic calcified algae will be reduced or replaced with diatoms and filamentous seaweeds (magnified circles).