Global climate change is one of the major environmental challenges facing society today, and its ecological and socioeconomic implications are widespread and severe. The increase in greenhouse gas emissions, primarily CO2, is having a major impact on the oceans, which have experienced a significant rise in temperature and a decrease in pH in recent decades. The existence of climate change in the Canary Islands' marine environment has been demonstrated by the rapid variation in these oceanographic parameters over the last twenty years. From a biogeographical perspective, the archipelago's location allows for the coexistence of temperate and tropical species. It is, therefore, a unique experimental area in Spain for assessing the warming trend of the waters, where there are already clear signs that these changes are affecting marine biodiversity, especially with regard to the distribution and abundance of organisms, with a clear trend toward the tropicalization of marine biota (the appearance of new species of tropical origin). The profound changes in the physicochemical parameters of seawater brought about by climate change not only directly affect the survival and distribution of species, but also have the potential to trigger indirect impacts on ecosystem functioning and the services they provide to the societies that depend on them. This project proposes a working strategy to identify the effects of climate change on marine ecosystems through (1) the selection of sensitive and ecosystem-level important bioindicators and the design of a monitoring plan for them; and (2) the performance of simulation experiments of future climate conditions to understand their direct and indirect effects on certain ecological processes in benthic ecosystems. Specifically, the project will evaluate the adaptive capacity of certain key species in the benthic ecosystems of the Canary Islands to increased seawater temperatures and acidification, in terms of survival and growth, as well as the interspecific relationships of herbivory and predation, which are crucial for maintaining the functioning of marine ecosystems. By achieving these objectives, we will be able to provide specialized knowledge to support decision-making processes for protecting and enhancing ecological processes, ensuring their maintenance and functioning, as well as the persistence of the most productive benthic communities in the context of climate change. Furthermore, we propose a project dissemination plan to raise awareness of the effects of climate change on marine ecosystems, making society aware of its potential impacts.