Marine Ecosystem Response to the Atlantic Multidecadal Oscillation

Edwards, Martin; Beaugrand, Grégory; Hélaouët, Pierre; Alheit, Jürgen; Coombs, S. H.

doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0057212

Cited by 115 publications

(103 citation statements)

References 29 publications

(38 reference statements)

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“…In contrast, a change in mesozooplankton community structure had the greatest effect on the export flux signal in subsurface waters. The datasets that illustrate the former are much more widespread and well-established, than for the latter which is more speculative and relies on several strands of indirect evidence that: fauna have different feeding strategies in the mesopelagic (Ikeda et al, 2001;Jackson and Burd, 2002;Paffenhöfer, 2006); climate-mediated shifts in mesozooplankton distributions have been observed in the surface ocean (Edwards et al, 2013) (and hence are also likely in the subsurface ocean as conditions change), and zooplankton species display a wide range of grazing rates (Mauchline, 1998).…”

Section: Climate-change Controls On the Biological Pumpmentioning

confidence: 99%

Toward quantifying the response of the oceans' biological pump to climate change

Boyd

2015

Front. Mar. Sci.

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The biological pump makes a major global contribution to the sequestration of carbon-rich particles in the oceans' interior. This pump has many component parts from physics to ecology that together control its efficiency in exporting particles. Hence, the influence of climate change on the functioning and magnitude of the pump is likely to be complex and non-linear. Here, I employ a published 1-D coupled surface-subsurface Particulate Organic Carbon (POC) export flux model to systematically explore the potential influence of changing oceanic conditions on each of the pump's "moving parts," in both surface and subsurface waters. These simulations were run for typical high (High Nutrient Low Chlorophyll, HNLC) and low (Low Nutrient Low Chlorophyll, LNLC) latitude sites. Next, I couple pump components that have common drivers, such as temperature, to investigate more complex scenarios involving concurrent climate-change mediated alteration of multiple "moving parts" of the pump. Model simulations reveal that in the surface ocean, changes to algal community structure (i.e., a shift toward small cells) has the greatest individual influence (decreased flux) on downward POC flux in the coming decades. In subsurface waters, a shift in zooplankton community structure has the greatest single effect on POC flux (decreased) in a future ocean. More complex treatments, in which up to 10 individual factors (across both surface and subsurface processes) were concurrently altered, ∼ halved the POC flux at both high and low latitudes. In general climate-mediated changes to surface ocean processes had a greater effect on the magnitude of POC flux than alteration of subsurface processes, some of which negated one another. This relatively simple 1-D model provides initial insights into the most influential processes that may alter the future performance of this pump, and more importantly reveals many knowledge gaps that require urgent attention before we can accurately quantify future changes to the biological pump.

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Section: Climate-change Controls On the Biological Pumpmentioning

confidence: 99%

Toward quantifying the response of the oceans' biological pump to climate change

Boyd

2015

Front. Mar. Sci.

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“…Variability occurs on a range of spatial and temporal scales. These include an underlying trend of increasing temperature caused by global warming, which has had a dominant influence on biological systems in the NEA since the mid-19th century (Edwards et al 2013). This is overlain by basinwide alternate warming and cooling periods, with a frequency of about 60 years, described as the Atlantic Multidecadal Oscillation.…”

Section: Variability In the Ecosystemmentioning

confidence: 99%

Challenges of achieving Good Environmental Status in the Northeast Atlantic

Alexander¹,

Kershaw²,

Cooper³

et al. 2015

E&S

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ABSTRACT. The sustainable exploitation of marine ecosystem services is dependent on achieving and maintaining an adequate ecosystem state to prevent undue deterioration. Within the European Union, the Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD) requires member states to achieve Good Environmental Status (GEnS), specified in terms of 11 descriptors. We analyzed the complexity of social-ecological factors to identify common critical issues that are likely to influence the achievement of GEnS in the Northeast Atlantic (NEA) more broadly, using three case studies. A conceptual model developed using a soft systems approach highlights the complexity of social and ecological phenomena that influence, and are likely to continue to influence, the state of ecosystems in the NEA. The development of the conceptual model raised four issues that complicate the implementation of the MSFD, the majority of which arose in the Pressures and State sections of the model: variability in the system, cumulative effects, ecosystem resilience, and conflicting policy targets. The achievement of GEnS targets for the marine environment requires the recognition and negotiation of trade-offs across a broad policy landscape involving a wide variety of stakeholders in the public and private sectors. Furthermore, potential cumulative effects may introduce uncertainty, particularly in selecting appropriate management measures. There also are endogenous pressures that society cannot control. This uncertainty is even more obvious when variability within the system, e.g., climate change, is accounted for. Also, questions related to the resilience of the affected ecosystem to specific pressures must be raised, despite a lack of current knowledge. Achieving good management and reaching GEnS require multidisciplinary assessments. The soft systems approach provides one mechanism for bringing multidisciplinary information together to look at the problems in a different light.

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“…Similarly, large-scale changes in life history traits, particularly sea age and run time, have been reported in a number of long-term studies (Summers 1995, Boylan 2004, Bacon et al 2009). These are considered to be responses to broaderscale ecosystem dynamics such as the Atlantic Multidecadal Oscillation (Edwards et al 2013, Klöwer et al 2014, Trenkel et al 2014. It is possible that a changing ocean could be responsible for shifts in the population dynamics of Erriff sea trout observed here.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 93%

Temporal variation in sea trout Salmo trutta life history traits in the Erriff River, western Ireland

Gargan¹,

Kelly²,

Shephard³

et al. 2016

Aquacult. Environ. Interact.

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The demographic and life history characteristics of sea trout Salmo trutta L. populations can be changed by a range of pressures in both freshwater and marine environments. Few long-term monitoring programmes are in place to assess temporal change in population dynamics. We analysed a 20 yr time series (1985−2004) using 15 sea trout population response variables in the Erriff River, western Ireland. Over this period, when time was considered as a categorical variable comprising 4 sequential periods of 5 yr, important life history changes were observed. The most dramatic of these changes corresponded with the period immediately after the commencement of salmon farming in the local estuary, with significant decreases in the number and length of sea trout kelts, the estimated number of eggs deposited, the sea trout rod catch, the proportion of older (1+ and 2+ sea age) fish and the frequency of repeat spawners. We found a significant positive relationship between the number of salmon lice Lepeophtheirus salmonis in the local salmon farm and the number of lice found on sea trout collected contemporaneously in local rivers. Results of this long-term monitoring programme demonstrate that significant changes in sea trout population structure with respect to quantitative life history traits can occur over a relatively short time period and suggest that the introduction of salmon farming into the local estuary most likely contributed to the observed changes in sea trout population dynamics.

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Marine Ecosystem Response to the Atlantic Multidecadal Oscillation

Cited by 115 publications

References 29 publications

Toward quantifying the response of the oceans' biological pump to climate change

Toward quantifying the response of the oceans' biological pump to climate change

Challenges of achieving Good Environmental Status in the Northeast Atlantic

Temporal variation in sea trout Salmo trutta life history traits in the Erriff River, western Ireland

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