Aquatic biochronologies and climate change

Historical evidence provides a valuable context for models that predict the biological impacts of climate change, but such long-term data sets are sparse for aquatic systems. This Review outlines the potential of aquatic biochronologies — generated from the hard parts of fish, molluscs and corals — to provide long-term ecological insights into marine and freshwater environments. Historical evidence provides essential context for models predicting the biological impacts of climate change. Such long-term data sets are relatively common for terrestrial taxa and environments, but sparse for aquatic systems. Aquatic biochronologies — generated from information recorded in the hard parts of fish, molluscs and corals that are archived in their millions worldwide — can provide valuable long-term ecological insights into marine and freshwater environments. These resources are, however, at present under-utilized in the measurement and prediction of ecological responses to climate change, despite their potential to provide unprecedented levels of spatial and temporal detail in aquatic environments.