Meeting Abstract
Human-caused environmental change will have many non-lethal and indirect impacts on organisms due to altered sensory pathways, with consequences for a plethora of ecological interactions. An integrated view of how multiple aspects of environmental change will impact multiple sensory pathways and consequently ecological processes is needed to better anticipate broader consequences for marine ecosystems. Here, we present a synthesis of effects of global change on marine sensory ecology. Our literature review supports several predictions for how particular sensory pathway steps are affected by aspects of environmental change. Global ocean change impacts production and reception/processing of cues and signals in similar ways, likely through physiological stress. The energy budget may be reallocated to prioritize physiological maintenance over the function of these sensory steps. Global ocean change affects transmission of cues/signals in other ways. During transmission, cues/signals are directly influenced by conditions of the environment outside of the organism. Finally, a relatively small number of studies have been conducted at the interface of global environmental change and marine sensory ecology. We highlight key knowledge gaps that merit further investigation, including how effects on individual sensory processes will integrate to shape species interactions. Because many ecological and evolutionary interactions rely on sensory processing, impairment of sensory pathways may be a primary mechanism underlying impacts of global ocean change on marine ecosystems.
