Spatial and Temporal Operation of the Scotia Sea Ecosystem

Murphy, Eugene J.; Watkins, J. L.; Trathan, Phil; Reid, Keith; Meredith, Michael P.; Hill, Simeon L.; Thorpe, Sally; Johnston, Nadine M.; Clarke, Andrew; Tarling, Geraint A.; Collins, Martin A.; Forcada, Jaume; Atkinson, Angus; Ward, Peter; Staniland, Iain J.; Pond, David W.; Cavanagh, Rachel; Shreeve, Rachael S.; Korb, Rebecca E.; Whitehouse, Martin J.; Rodhouse, P. G.; Enderlein, Peter; Hirst, Andrew G.; Martin, Anthony R.; Briggs, Dirk R.; Cunningham, Nathan; Fleming, Andrew

doi:10.1002/9781444347241.ch6

Cited by 5 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 349 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: 99%

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

493

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: 99%

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

493

372

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

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“…Furthermore, years with longer foraging trips exhibit lower offspring production and growth (US AMLR, unpublished data). At Bird Island, South Georgia, where krill abundance is more dependent on advection/migration (Murphy et al, 2004), periodic variability in its availability, in turn correlated with variation in the physical environment, correlates with subsequent fluctuation in vital rates of predators, particularly those that are more dependent on krill (Murphy et al, 2007;Forcada et al, 2008). Together, the weight of evidence helps to link changes in size structure of the krill population with predator foraging behaviour and vital rates and reaffirms the utility of predator monitoring for understanding changes in krill populations.…”

Section: Monitoring Diet and Foraging Behaviour Of Krill Predatorsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Observing change in pelagic animals as sampling methods shift: the case of Antarctic krill

Hill,

Atkinson,

Arata

et al. 2024

Front. Mar. Sci.

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Understanding and managing the response of marine ecosystems to human pressures including climate change requires reliable large-scale and multi-decadal information on the state of key populations. These populations include the pelagic animals that support ecosystem services including carbon export and fisheries. The use of research vessels to collect information using scientific nets and acoustics is being replaced with technologies such as autonomous moorings, gliders, and meta-genetics. Paradoxically, these newer methods sample pelagic populations at ever-smaller spatial scales, and ecological change might go undetected in the time needed to build up large-scale, long time series. These global-scale issues are epitomised by Antarctic krill (Euphausia superba), which is concentrated in rapidly warming areas, exports substantial quantities of carbon and supports an expanding fishery, but opinion is divided on how resilient their stocks are to climatic change. Based on a workshop of 137 krill experts we identify the challenges of observing climate change impacts with shifting sampling methods and suggest three tractable solutions. These are to: improve overlap and calibration of new with traditional methods; improve communication to harmonise, link and scale up the capacity of new but localised sampling programs; and expand opportunities from other research platforms and data sources, including the fishing industry. Contrasting evidence for both change and stability in krill stocks illustrates how the risks of false negative and false positive diagnoses of change are related to the temporal and spatial scale of sampling. Given the uncertainty about how krill are responding to rapid warming we recommend a shift towards a fishery management approach that prioritises monitoring of stock status and can adapt to variability and change.

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“…Many of the endemic species are uniquely adapted to Southern Ocean conditions, including the intense seasonality, sea ice, and low ocean temperatures (Murphy et al, 2016) associated with its cooling >24 mya and formation of the Antarctic Circumpolar Current (ACC) and Antarctic Polar Front (APF) (Clarke and Johnston, 2003;Lagabrielle et al, 2009;Clarke and Crame, 2010). These physical features are indeed fundamental drivers of natural processes, life history evolution, and ecological connectivity across the Southern Ocean (Clarke and Crame, 2010;Clarke et al, 2012;Murphy et al, 2012bMurphy et al, , 2016Varpe, 2017), signifying the vulnerability of Southern Ocean biota, including zooplankton, to climate change (Constable et al, 2014b).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Status, Change, and Futures of Zooplankton in the Southern Ocean

et al. 2022

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In the Southern Ocean, several zooplankton taxonomic groups, euphausiids, copepods, salps and pteropods, are notable because of their biomass and abundance and their roles in maintaining food webs and ecosystem structure and function, including the provision of globally important ecosystem services. These groups are consumers of microbes, primary and secondary producers, and are prey for fishes, cephalopods, seabirds, and marine mammals. In providing the link between microbes, primary production, and higher trophic levels these taxa influence energy flows, biological production and biomass, biogeochemical cycles, carbon flux and food web interactions thereby modulating the structure and functioning of ecosystems. Additionally, Antarctic krill (Euphausia superba) and various fish species are harvested by international fisheries. Global and local drivers of change are expected to affect the dynamics of key zooplankton species, which may have potentially profound and wide-ranging implications for Southern Ocean ecosystems and the services they provide. Here we assess the current understanding of the dominant metazoan zooplankton within the Southern Ocean, including Antarctic krill and other key euphausiid, copepod, salp and pteropod species. We provide a systematic overview of observed and potential future responses of these taxa to a changing Southern Ocean and the functional relationships by which drivers may impact them. To support future ecosystem assessments and conservation and management strategies, we also identify priorities for Southern Ocean zooplankton research.

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Spatial and Temporal Operation of the Scotia Sea Ecosystem

Cited by 5 publications

References 349 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

Observing change in pelagic animals as sampling methods shift: the case of Antarctic krill

Status, Change, and Futures of Zooplankton in the Southern Ocean

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