Climate Change Impacts on Basking Shark (Cetorhinus maximus) Nutritional Status, Health, and Ecophysiology: An Integrative Systematic Review

Abstract

Climate change presents multifaceted challenges to marine ecosystems, with particularly significant implications for large marine vertebrates such as the basking shark (Cetorhinus maximus). This systematic review examines how climate-driven alterations in ocean conditions affect the nutritional status, health, disease resilience, and related physiological processes of basking sharks, and explores the consequent impacts on their migration patterns and prey-seeking behaviours. Through comprehensive analysis of available literature, this review identifies key climate stressors including ocean warming, acidification, deoxygenation, and associated changes in zooplankton communities that form the foundation of basking shark nutrition. The findings reveal complex cascading effects from altered prey availability and quality to compromised physiological condition, bioenergetics, reduced immune function, disease risks and modified spatial ecology. These climate-mediated changes pose significant threats to basking shark populations already vulnerable due to their slow life history characteristics and limited genetic diversity.