From Quiver Trees to Kelp. Watch for ‘Species-on-the-Move’ Amid Climate Crisis

“Fish don’t need passports; they can just move.” And boy, are they moving, says Dr Romina Henriques of the University of Pretoria. She is a marine biologist in UP’s Department of Biochemistry, Genetics and Microbiology who knows very well how different ocean species in South Africa are shifting. That is why she joined a global chorus of scientists calling on citizens to watch for “species-on-the-move”.

“We are in the midst of the largest redistribution of species in the shortest geological time frame ever,” she says.

“Most species adapted to their environments over millions of years of evolution. And now we are asking them to do the same in just a few generations. It is no longer thousands and millions of years; you’re looking at 10 to 20 to 50 years,” she says.