Long-term patterns of rocky bottom macrobenthic community structure in an Arctic fjord (Kongsfjorden, Svalbard) in relation to climate variability (1980–2003)

Beuchel, Frank; Gulliksen, Bjørn; Carroll, Michael L.

doi:10.1016/j.jmarsys.2006.05.002

Cited by 107 publications

(76 citation statements)

References 58 publications

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“…1073/pnas.1207509109/-/DCSupplemental. diversity was documented immediately after the macroalgae expanded (22), which is consistent with findings in previous studies from the area, where rocky bottom habitats with occurrences of macroalgae host higher diversity (20,23). The site in Smeerenburgfjord, with 36 benthic taxa (Table S1), was initially characterized by several sessile suspension feeders.…”

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confidence: 89%

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Climate-driven regime shifts in Arctic marine benthos

Kortsch

Primicerio

Beuchel

et al. 2012

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

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222

183

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Climate warming can trigger abrupt ecosystem changes in the Arctic. Despite the considerable interest in characterizing and understanding the ecological impact of rapid climate warming in the Arctic, few long time series exist that allow addressing these research goals. During a 30-y period of gradually increasing seawater temperature and decreasing sea ice cover in Svalbard, we document rapid and extensive structural changes in the rocky-bottom communities of two Arctic fjords. The most striking component of the benthic reorganization was an abrupt fivefold increase in macroalgal cover in 1995 in Kongsfjord and an eightfold increase in 2000 in Smeerenburgfjord. Simultaneous changes in the abundance of benthic invertebrates suggest that the macroalgae played a key structuring role in these communities. The abrupt, substantial, and persistent nature of the changes observed is indicative of a climate-driven ecological regime shift. The ecological processes thought to drive the observed regime shifts are likely to promote the borealization of these Arctic marine communities in the coming years.climate change | community structure | ecological dynamics | ecological interactions | tipping point C limate warming has accelerated over the past 30 y, causing increases in global surface temperatures of about 0.2°C per decade (1). The greatest changes have been recorded in the Arctic, where the temperatures have risen at twice the global average rate and sea ice cover, at the end of the Arctic summer, has declined by 30% (2). These changes modify Arctic marine habitats with respect to light and temperature regimes, which, in turn, impact local biological communities (3, 4). The increasing length of the ice-free season (5), extending the period of primary production, and the increasing seawater temperature, have strong impacts on abundances and distributions of species mediated by changes in demographic and interaction parameters.

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confidence: 89%

“…Digital image analysis was carried out using the program Photoshop CS4 Extended (Adobe). A detailed description of the sampling design can be found in papers by Beuchel and coworkers (22,25,44).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Climate-driven regime shifts in Arctic marine benthos

Kortsch

Primicerio

Beuchel

et al. 2012

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

Self Cite

222

183

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“…The most notable were the discovery of the thermophilic bivalve Mytilus edulis population in Isfjorden (Berge, Johnsen, Nilsen, Gulliksen, & Slagstad, 2005) and the appearance of Atlantic cod, mackerel, and pipefish along Spitsbergen (Fleischer, Schaber, & Piepenburg, 2007; Hopkins, 2002). Furthermore, thirty years of observations in two Spitsbergen fjords documented extensive structural changes in the rocky‐bottom communities with the abrupt increase in macroalgal cover and the simultaneous reorganization in the invertebrate assemblage as a consequence of temperature increase and fast ice disappearance (Beuchel & Gulliksen, 2008; Beuchel, Gulliksen, & Carroll, 2006; Kortsch et al., 2012; Węsławski et al., 2011). Also, the northward advance of snow and king crabs (Jørgensen, Løkkeborg, Fernö, & Hufthammer, 2007; https://www.unis.no/snow-crab-arrived/) and ornithological records of northward shifts of the nesting areas of gannets, great skuas, ravens, swans, and cormorants (Dr H. Strøm, Norwegian Polar Institute, pers.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Range extension of a boreal amphipod Gammarus oceanicus in the warming Arctic

Węsławski

Dragańska‐Deja

Legeżyńska

et al. 2018

Ecology and Evolution

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The recent (2008–2016) occurrence of a boreal intertidal amphipod Gammarus oceanicus along the Spitsbergen coast is compared with corresponding data from 1980 to 1994. We aimed to compare the pace of environmental changes in the area (ice retreat, temperature increase) with distribution change of G. oceanicus. Material for the study was collected from intertidal, at low water level from over 100 locations on Spitsbergen, the main island of Svalbard archipelago (expanding from 76 to 80°N). The west coast of the island has been exposed to a steady increase in sea surface and air temperature (2°C in 20 years), as well as a significant decrease in fast ice duration (from over 5 months to less than 1 per year). A total length of more than 3,600 km of the island's coastline has been recently impacted by warming. Of the two sibling Gammarus species that dwell in the Spitsbergen littoral, G. setosus, the local cold water species remains generally where it was observed about 20–30 years ago. By contrast, boreal G. oceanicus has expanded its distribution range by over 1,300 km along the west and north coasts of Spitsbergen and gained dominating position on the number of sites, where it was previously just an occasional species.

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“…A northward expansion of at least 20 decapod species has also been observed over the last two decades, indicating an ecological response to a warming sea along the Norwegian coast (Brattegard and Holthe 1997;T. Brattegard new data), as such faunal changes are associated with altered hydrographic conditions, both locally (Beuchel et al 2006;Willis et al 2006Willis et al , 2008 and regionally (reviewed in Drinkwater 2006;Renaud et al 2008). Decapod species composition and distribution are thus well suited for studies of the eVects caused by physical changes in the environment.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 98%

“…Worm and Myers 2003). Several benthic time series of up to 100 years have been analysed in the North Atlantic (Pearson et al 1985;Bradshaw et al 2002;Southward et al 2005), but despite evidence that Arctic biological systems respond to climatic variability (Ambrose et al 2006;Beuchel et al 2006), no studies spanning more than two to three decades have to our knowledge been reported from the Arctic.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Changes in the decapod fauna of an Arctic fjord during the last 100 years (1908–2007)

Berge¹,

Renaud

Eiane³

et al. 2009

Polar Biol

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Whereas Arctic benthic decapods are not a species-rich group, they can dominate the local epifauna and play important roles in the ecosystem. We studied the decapod fauna from Isfjorden (Svalbard, Norway, 78°N) by sampling from 22 stations and comparing with 50 and 100-year-old data from the same localities. Our data provide no evidence of changes in the species composition of decapods during the last 50 years. Hence, we do not observe the poleward shift of species found in several pelagic communities in the North Atlantic. However, there is statistical evidence for changes in the community structure between 1908 and both 1958 and 2007. The main change is a shift towards communities more dominated by the spider crab Hyas araneus and the hermit crab Pagurus pubescens in 2007, and with a corresponding decrease in the two shrimp species Lebbeus polaris and Spirontocaris spinus. These shrimps are specialist predators compared to the more opportunistic, scavenging crabs. We argue that increased disturbance levels may be a causal factor behind the observed community change, with likely sources of disturbance including trawling and climatic Xuctuations.

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Long-term patterns of rocky bottom macrobenthic community structure in an Arctic fjord (Kongsfjorden, Svalbard) in relation to climate variability (1980–2003)

Cited by 107 publications

References 58 publications

Climate-driven regime shifts in Arctic marine benthos

Climate-driven regime shifts in Arctic marine benthos

Range extension of a boreal amphipod Gammarus oceanicus in the warming Arctic

Changes in the decapod fauna of an Arctic fjord during the last 100 years (1908–2007)

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