Deep-sea ecosystems are sensitive to global temperature variations on shorter timescales than previously thought.

Moriaki Yasahara at the University of Hong Kong and his colleagues took samples of a fossil-rich sediment core from the northeastern Atlantic Ocean to study variability in the abundance of deep-water species over the past 20,000 years. Focusing on a scale of decades to centuries, the researchers found that abrupt glaciations such as the Younger Dryas cooling period some 13,000 years ago led to significant increases in biodiversity on the ocean floor within around 100 years. Weakening ocean-circulation patterns during these surface-cooling events resulted in warmer deep-ocean waters.

This high sensitivity to rapid temperature variation shows how marine biodiversity could respond suddenly to human-induced climate change this century, the authors say.

Global Ecol. Biogeogr. http://doi.org/sk7 (2014)