Ice age cod survival
Climate change could harm a variety of species
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Wednesday, 14, Nov 2007 12:42
Cod fish are able to respond to climate change to ensure their survival, an international team of researchers has found.
Concerns have been raised about dwindling supplies of the fish and predictions of climate change mean it could suffer even further.
But the latest research, published in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B, suggest that cod are capable of surviving change.
It claims that natural climate change has reduced the range of cod to about a fifth of what it is now.
The researchers used a computer model to estimate ice age habitats for cod and compared the results with DNA data from 1,000 present-day cod populations.
They argue that the ice age range of Atlantic cod extended as far south as northern Spain, but the total area of suitable habitat was much more restricted.
Despite this populations of cod continued to exist on both sides of the North Atlantic.
"This research shows that cod populations have been able to survive in periods of extreme climatic change, demonstrating a considerable resilience," said researcher Professor Grant Bigg from the University of Sheffield.
"However this does not necessarily mean that cod will show the same resilience to the effects of future climatic changes due to global warming."