Results from the Gulf of Mexico climate vulnerability analysis for fishes and invertebrates

The key findings of the climate vulnerability assessment are: ● All species in the Gulf of Mexico are projected to experience high or very high exposure to climate-driven change in environmental variables. ● The primary environmental factors of concern include temperature, salinity, ocean acidification, and dissolved oxygen. ● Biological sensitivities are variable and range from low to very high, with most species (~63%) falling into the low sensitivity category. ● The dominant biological aspects include population growth rate, other stressors, early life stage survival and settlement, spawning cycle, complexity in reproductive strategy, and spawning stock size/status. ● Twenty percent of the species, representing groupers, elasmobranchs, snappers, diadromous fishes, invertebrates, and coastal species, had high or very high overall vulnerability to climate change. Twenty-eight percent of all species were moderately vulnerable, and 52% were low-vulnerability species.