Boundaries in the ocean and the disadvantages of having a long larval life

What is it about?

On land, it is easy to imagine that some species cannot reach some places. A mountain, a desert, a river—depending on the organism, these or other landscape features can act as barriers to movement. But what stops organisms in the ocean? Although ocean waters appear to connect all marine habitats, different regions have water masses with different properties, and the associated variation in temperature, salinity or nutrients may affect species distribution.

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Why is it important?

Patterns of circulation can affect the location of range boundaries, particularly in species with long larval duration. The consistency of these current patterns and their strong effect on larvae can explain why species boundaries of so many different species are concentrated in narrow portions of the coast. Also, constraints set by currents will affect how climate change influences species distributions, which may depend not only on changes in ocean temperature, but also in ocean circulation.