As Arctic waters warm and sea ice melts due to climate change, many species of jellyfish and other zooplankton could expand towards the north pole, threatening to disrupt ecosystems. The “jellification” of the Arctic may have already begun.Havermans and her colleagues combined several datasets on the distribution of the 8 most recorded species of jellyfish and their gelatinous relatives across the greater Arctic.
Other reports of surging jellyfish numbers in recent years have given rise to discussion of a wider “jellification” of the world’s oceans, although identifying clear trends is challenging due to a lack of data, says Havermans.at the UK Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science says impacts from such an expansion will also depend on how other organisms respond. The added competition could prove detrimental to some species, he says.