Harnessing macrogenomics to study changing marine ecosystems under global climate change.
5 affiliations
- 1Department of Population Analysis and Monitoring, Swedish Museum of Natural History , Stockholm, Sweden.
- 2Department of Medical Biochemistry and Microbiology, Uppsala University , Uppsala, Sweden.
- 3Department of Veterinary Integrative Biosciences, Texas A&M University , College Station, TX, USA.
- 4Department of Aquatic Resources, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences , Uppsala, Sweden.
- 5Department of Marine Sciences, University of Gothenburg , Tjärnö Marine Laboratory, Strömstad, Sweden.
Abstract
Climate change is reshaping marine ecosystems at an accelerating pace. Predicting its impacts on biodiversity and ecosystem functions is therefore crucial to developing effective conservation strategies. Integration of genomic tools, habitat modelling and simulations offers a transformative approach to forecast these impacts. Yet, current frameworks remain limited to single-species analyses. In this review, we discuss future directions in the emerging field of macrogenomics, the analysis of large-scale genomic data across species and time, and show how its integration with environmental data can be applied to understand past and predict future climate-driven ecological shifts across entire marine communities. We demonstrate how applying a macrogenomic framework can provide insights into future responses of marine ecosystems under global climate change by integrating multi-species demographic analyses, metagenomics and signatures of adaptation associated with past climate fluctuations. We also show how macrogenomics combined with predictive approaches can be used to forecast cascading effects of species fluctuations on ecosystem structure and potentially identify ecosystem tipping points. Ultimately, coupling empirical and prediction data offers a powerful approach for ecosystem-based management, improving our ability to predict adaptive responses and extinction risks at relevant scales, and equipping managers and policymakers with actionable insights to prioritize biodiversity conservation strategies.
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BibTeX
@article{dussex2026harnessing,
title = {{Harnessing macrogenomics to study changing marine ecosystems under global climate change.}},
author = {Nicolas Dussex and Leif Andersson and Ulf Bergström and Kerstin Johannesson and Andreas Wallberg},
journal = {Proceedings. Biological sciences},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
doi = {10.1098/rspb.2026.0357},
url = {https://europepmc.org/article/MED/42838558},
note = {CC BY},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - Harnessing macrogenomics to study changing marine ecosystems under global climate change.
AU - Nicolas Dussex
AU - Leif Andersson
AU - Ulf Bergström
AU - Kerstin Johannesson
AU - Andreas Wallberg
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/10/01
JO - Proceedings. Biological sciences
DO - 10.1098/rspb.2026.0357
UR - https://europepmc.org/article/MED/42838558
AB - Climate change is reshaping marine ecosystems at an accelerating pace. Predicting its impacts on biodiversity and ecosystem functions is therefore crucial to developing effective conservation strategies. Integration of genomic tools, habitat modelling and simulations offers a transformative approach to forecast these impacts. Yet, current frameworks remain limited to single-species analyses. In this review, we discuss future directions in the emerging field of macrogenomics, the analysis of large-scale genomic data across species and time, and show how its integration with environmental data can be applied to understand past and predict future climate-driven ecological shifts across entire marine communities. We demonstrate how applying a macrogenomic framework can provide insights into future responses of marine ecosystems under global climate change by integrating multi-species demographic analyses, metagenomics and signatures of adaptation associated with past climate fluctuations. We also show how macrogenomics combined with predictive approaches can be used to forecast cascading effects of species fluctuations on ecosystem structure and potentially identify ecosystem tipping points. Ultimately, coupling empirical and prediction data offers a powerful approach for ecosystem-based management, improving our ability to predict adaptive responses and extinction risks at relevant scales, and equipping managers and policymakers with actionable insights to prioritize biodiversity conservation strategies.
SN - 0962-8452
SN - 1471-2954
ER -