Evidence map›Paper›PMID 32770015›Full record

ArticleScientific reports2020

Marine heatwaves and the collapse of marginal North Atlantic kelp forests.

K Filbee-Dexter, T Wernberg, S P Grace, J Thormar, S Fredriksen, C N Narvaez, C J Feehan, K M Norderhaug

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Scientific reports, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 46 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
46citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

46 citing papers in PubMed.

  1. Article
  2. Article
  3. Article
  4. Article
  5. Consumer resilience suppresses the recovery of overgrazed ecosystems.Ecological applications : a publication of the Ecological Society of America · 2026
    Article
  6. Article
  7. Article
  8. Article
  9. Article
  10. Article
  11. The Arctic copepodRoyal Society open science · 2025
    Article
  12. Article
  13. Insights from farmingbioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2025
    Article
  14. Article
  15. Article
  16. Article
  17. Article
  18. Drivers of seasonal dynamics inCurrent research in microbial sciences · 2025
    Article
  19. Review
  20. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

8 authors.

K Filbee-DexterInstitute of Marine Research, Nye Flødevigveien 20, 4817, His, Norway. kfilbeedexter@gmail.com.
T WernbergInstitute of Marine Research, Nye Flødevigveien 20, 4817, His, Norway.
S P GraceDepartment of Biology and Werth Center for Coastal and Marine Studies, Southern Connecticut State University, New Haven, CT, 06515, USA.
J ThormarInstitute of Marine Research, Nye Flødevigveien 20, 4817, His, Norway.
S FredriksenInstitute of Marine Research, Nye Flødevigveien 20, 4817, His, Norway.
C N NarvaezDepartment of Biology, Villanova University, Villanova, PA, 19085, USA.
C J FeehanDepartment of Biology, Montclair State University, Montclair, NJ, 07043, USA.
K M NorderhaugInstitute of Marine Research, Nye Flødevigveien 20, 4817, His, Norway.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Extreme climatic events including marine heatwaves (MHWs) are becoming more frequent and severe in the Anthropocene. However, our understanding of how these events affect population dynamics of ecologically important species is limited, in part because extreme events are rare and difficult to predict. Here, we quantified the occurrence and severity of MHWs over 60 years in warm range edge kelp forests on both sides of the North Atlantic. The cumulative annual intensity of MHWs increased two- to four-fold during this period, coinciding with the disappearance of kelps. We experimentally demonstrated a relationship between strong and severe 2018 heatwaves and high kelp mortality in both regions. Patterns of kelp mortality were strongly linked to maximum temperature anomalies, which crossed lethal thresholds in both regions. Translocation and tagging experiments revealed similar kelp mortality rates on reefs dominated by healthy kelp forests and degraded sediment-laden algal 'turfs', indicating equal vulnerability to extreme events. These results suggest a mechanistic link between MHWs and broad-scale kelp loss, and highlight how warming can make ecosystem boundaries unstable, forcing shifts to undesirable ecosystem states under episodically extreme climatic conditions.

Identifiers

PMID32770015
PMCPMC7414212

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.