Exploring workplace conflicts: a qualitative study on the needs and challenges of employees, employers, and occupational health professionals.

Climate change is transforming ecosystems across the globe, altering biodiversity, community composition and the functioning of ecological networks (Pecl et al., ; Pinsky et al., ). Rising temperatures, shifting precipitation patterns and increasing frequency and magnitude of climatic extremes are reshaping terrestrial and aquatic systems alike, often pushing ecosystems towards thresholds of irreversible change (Scheffers et al., ; Smale et al., ). Marine ecosystems are particularly vulnerable compared to terrestrial systems because ocean warming, acidification and deoxygenation act at broad spatial scales, occur rapidly and directly alter the physical and chemical properties of seawater, leaving many marine organisms with limited capacity to avoid or buffer exposure (Burrows et al., ; Pörtner et al., ). The oceans have absorbed more than 90% of excess atmospheric heat and nearly 30% of all anthropogenic CO emissions, driving long‐term warming, acidification and deoxygenation, while also intensifying acute extreme events such as marine heatwaves (Frölicher & Laufkötter, ; Smale et al., ). These changes are pronounced in ocean warming hotspots, where rapid environmental change and recurrent extremes are accelerating ecological transitions (Pecl et al., ; Smale et al., ). Marine taxa are already responding by shifting poleward or into deeper habitats at rates far exceeding those of terrestrial organisms (Pecl et al., ), creating novel assemblages and altering long‐standing biogeographic boundaries. Such redistributions, combined with changes in demographic performance and life‐history traits, are reorganising communities, disrupting interaction networks and eroding ecosystem resilience (Nagelkerken & Connell, ; Pinsky et al., ). Ultimately, species' persistence under climate change will hinge not only on physiological limits but also on the capacity for behavioural plasticity and ecological interactions to buffer species against rapid and extreme environmental change. Behavioural plasticity has been proposed as a key mechanism by which animals may adapt to both chronic (ocean warming and acidification) and acute (e.g. heatwaves) climate stressors (Donelson et al., ; Fox et al., ). Behavioural plasticity allows individuals to adjust activity patterns, resource use and social interactions in real time, potentially buffering fitness against novel or stressful conditions (Tuomainen & Candolin, ; Wong & Candolin, ). In fishes, behaviours such as foraging, anti‐predator responses and habitat use are highly plastic, and these shifts can influence energy balance, survival and ecological interactions (Nagelkerken et al., ). However, plasticity may be constrained when multiple climate stressors act simultaneously, as ocean warming, acidification and heatwaves can interact to disrupt physiological performance, habitat structure and ecological communities (Harvey et al., ). Understanding whether behavioural plasticity enables organisms to buffer against these combined stressors is therefore central to predicting resilience under climate change. A central but underexplored aspect of behavioural plasticity is the role of social context, particularly group size. Group living is a hallmark of many animals, providing ecological benefits that strongly mediate behavioural expression (Krause & Ruxton, ). Across aquatic and terrestrial systems, larger groups can often reduce individual predation risk through dilution and the ‘safety in numbers’ effect, enhance predator detection via collective vigilance, and improve foraging efficiency through social facilitation and information sharing. These changes in behavioural expression have been demonstrated in flocking birds, ungulate herds and social insect colonies (Creel & Winnie Jr, ; Krause et al., ). Thus, group size is a key determinant of behavioural expression and performance across many social taxa. In marine ecosystems, shoaling often confers comparable advantages: reef fishes in larger shoals experience reduced predation risk, greater foraging efficiency, and faster decision‐making (Pacher et al., ; Pitcher, ; Tiddy et al., ; Ward & Webster, ). Hence, whether group size, an often‐overlooked contributor to individual performance, can mediate or limit the direct effects of climate stressors on social animals has seldom been addressed.