Pelagic Ecosystems in the Waters off East Antarctica (30° E–150° E)

Nicol, Stephen; Raymond, Ben

doi:10.1002/9781444347241.ch8

Cited by 11 publications

(10 citation statements)

References 53 publications

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“…Reviews have previously been undertaken on the structure, function and change of the Southern Ocean ecosystem at sector and regional scales (Ducklow et al ., ; Murphy et al ., ,b, ; Nicol & Raymond, ; Smith et al ., ); we endeavour to uniformly apply terminology on different spatial scales where ‘sector’ is defined in the text and corresponds approximately to an ocean basin (Atlantic, Indian, West Pacific, East Pacific), ‘region’ applies to a scale akin to, for example, the Weddell and Ross Seas, west Antarctic Peninsula, East Antarctica, Kerguelen Plateau; and ‘area’ is more of a local scale such as an ice shelf or island. Some circumpolar syntheses of the ecology of particular habitat types and the consequences of change are also available (e.g.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 97%

Climate change and Southern Ocean ecosystems I: how changes in physical habitats directly affect marine biota

Constable

Melbourne-Thomas

Corney

et al. 2014

Global Change Biology

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372

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Antarctic and Southern Ocean (ASO) marine ecosystems have been changing for at least the last 30 years, including in response to increasing ocean temperatures and changes in the extent and seasonality of sea ice; the magnitude and direction of these changes differ between regions around Antarctica that could see populations of the same species changing differently in different regions. This article reviews current and expected changes in ASO physical habitats in response to climate change. It then reviews how these changes may impact the autecology of marine biota of this polar region: microbes, zooplankton, salps, Antarctic krill, fish, cephalopods, marine mammals, seabirds, and benthos. The general prognosis for ASO marine habitats is for an overall warming and freshening, strengthening of westerly winds, with a potential pole-ward movement of those winds and the frontal systems, and an increase in ocean eddy activity. Many habitat parameters will have regionally specific changes, particularly relating to sea ice characteristics and seasonal dynamics. Lower trophic levels are expected to move south as the ocean conditions in which they are currently found move pole-ward. For Antarctic krill and finfish, the latitudinal breadth of their range will depend on their tolerance of warming oceans and changes to productivity. Ocean acidification is a concern not only for calcifying organisms but also for crustaceans such as Antarctic krill; it is also likely to be the most important change in benthic habitats over the coming century. For marine mammals and birds, the expected changes primarily relate to their flexibility in moving to alternative locations for food and the energetic cost of longer or more complex foraging trips for those that are bound to breeding colonies. Few species are sufficiently well studied to make comprehensive species-specific vulnerability assessments possible. Priorities for future work are discussed.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 97%

Climate change and Southern Ocean ecosystems I: how changes in physical habitats directly affect marine biota

Constable

Melbourne-Thomas

Corney

et al. 2014

Global Change Biology

Self Cite

493

372

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“…2a). Increasingly, however, it is recognised that such simple views do not apply over much of the region (Ducklow et al, 2007;Murphy et al, 2007bMurphy et al, , 2008Smith et al, 2007;Pinkerton et al, 2010;Nicol and Raymond, 2012).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Over the last decade integrated analyses of Southern Ocean ecosystems that allow the consideration of end-to-end food web operation have developed to a level that has not been possible for most other oceanic ecosystems (Ducklow et al, 2007;Murphy et al, 2007bMurphy et al, , 2008Smith et al, 2007;Hofmann et al, 2008;Nicol and Raymond, 2012). Detailed reviews of local food web structure are available for the Antarctic Peninsula (Ducklow et al, 2007) with extensive information on key components and interactions (Hofmann et al, , 2011, for the Ross Sea , Scotia Sea (Murphy et al, 2007b) and East Antarctica (Nicol and Raymond, 2012). Consideration of the impacts of variability and change on regional food web structures have also been discussed for different areas around the Southern Ocean (e.g.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Developing integrated models of Southern Ocean food webs: Including ecological complexity, accounting for uncertainty and the importance of scale

Murphy

Cavanagh

Hofmann

et al. 2012

Progress in Oceanography

109

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“…Individual swarms are of particular interest since this is the expected scale at which predators directly encounter and assess prey patches (Santora et al ). While there may be spatial and/or temporal segregation between krill–based (Nicol and Raymond ) and non‐krill‐based (i.e., copepod‐fish; Hulley and Duhamel , Hosie et al ) food webs in the Southern Ocean, these transitions remain poorly understood. It is plausible that krill‐based analyses may have more general transferability; i.e., in identifying features indicative of biological productivity that are also relevant to non‐krill predators.…”

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confidence: 99%

Predicting krill swarm characteristics important for marine predators foraging off East Antarctica

et al. 2017

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Open ocean predator‐prey interactions are often difficult to interpret because of a lack of information on prey fields at scales relevant to predator behaviour. Hence, there is strong interest in identifying the biological and physical factors influencing the distribution and abundance of prey species, which may be of broad predictive use for conservation planning and evaluating effects of environmental change. This study focuses on a key Southern Ocean prey species, Antarctic krill Euphausia superba, using acoustic observations of individual swarms (aggregations) from a large‐scale survey off East Antarctica. We developed two sets of statistical models describing swarm characteristics, one set using underway survey data for the explanatory variables, and the other using their satellite remotely sensed analogues. While survey data are in situ and contemporaneous with the swarm data, remotely sensed data are all that is available for prediction and inference about prey distribution in other areas or at other times. The fitted models showed that the primary biophysical influences on krill swarm characteristics included daylight (solar elevation/radiation) and proximity to the Antarctic continental slope, but there were also complex relationships with current velocities and gradients. Overall model performance was similar regardless of whether underway or remotely sensed predictors were used. We applied the latter models to generate regional‐scale spatial predictions using a 10‐yr remotely‐sensed time series. This retrospective modelling identified areas off east Antarctica where relatively dense krill swarms were consistently predicted during austral mid‐summers, which may underpin key foraging areas for marine predators. Spatiotemporal predictions along Antarctic predator satellite tracks, from independent studies, illustrate the potential for uptake into further quantitative modelling of predator movements and foraging. The approach is widely applicable to other krill‐dependent ecosystems, and our findings are relevant to similar efforts examining biophysical linkages elsewhere in the Southern Ocean and beyond.

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Pelagic Ecosystems in the Waters off East Antarctica (30° E–150° E)

Cited by 11 publications

References 53 publications

Climate change and Southern Ocean ecosystems I: how changes in physical habitats directly affect marine biota

Climate change and Southern Ocean ecosystems I: how changes in physical habitats directly affect marine biota

Developing integrated models of Southern Ocean food webs: Including ecological complexity, accounting for uncertainty and the importance of scale

Predicting krill swarm characteristics important for marine predators foraging off East Antarctica

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