Rapid warming of Large Marine Ecosystems

The need to understand local effects of global climate change is most urgent in the Large Marine Ecosystems (LMEs) since marine ecosystem-based management requires information on the LME scale. Reported here is a study of sea surface temperature (SST) change in the World Ocean LMEs in 1957–2006 that revealed strong regional variations in the rate of SST change. The rapid warming in 1982–2006 was confined to the Subarctic Gyre, European Seas, and East Asian Seas. These LMEs warmed at rates 2–4 times the global mean rate. The most rapid warming was observed in the land-locked or semi-enclosed European and East Asian Seas (Baltic Sea, North Sea, Black Sea, Japan Sea/East Sea, and East China Sea) and also over the Newfoundland–Labrador Shelf. The Indian Ocean LMEs’ warming was slow, while two major upwelling areas – California and Humboldt Currents – experienced a slight cooling. The Subarctic Gyre warming was likely caused by natural variability related to the North Atlantic Oscillation. The extremely rapid surface warming in the enclosed and semi-enclosed European and East Asian Seas surrounded by major industrial/population agglomerations may have resulted from the observed terrestrial warming directly affecting the adjacent coastal seas. Regions of freshwater influence in the European and East Asian Seas seem to play a special role in modulating and exacerbating global warming effects on the regional scale.     

世界大海洋生态系研究及其国际计划

本文讨论了大海洋生态系概念和内涵的变化,介绍了全球主要大海洋生态系的分布,展示目前正在开展的大海洋生态系研究计划,重点介绍了黄海大海洋生态系的特征及其研究计划的最新动态。     

气候变化对海洋生物及生态系统的影响

工业革命以来,人类活动每年向大气中排放约10亿t的CO2,其直接影响是导致了全球温度升高、区域气候模式震荡、海平面上升、海水酸化等一系列变化.这些变化能够促使海洋生物从基因水平到生态系统水平发生改变,从而影响海洋生态系统的服务功能,不利于人类的可持续发展.海洋对调节气候变化和维持各生态系统的平衡具有重要意义,尽管一些海...     

中国海洋渔业生态系统健康评价及动态演进

本文基于生态系统健康的基本逻辑与科学内涵构建评价指标体系,评价2008—2021 年中国沿海11 个省、市和自治区的海洋渔业生态系统健康及各要素层水平,借助传统与空间Kernel 密度估计方法分析中国海洋渔业生态系统健康水平的分布动态演进和长期转移趋势。研究发现：在动态演化特征方面,中国海洋渔业生态系统健康水平随时间的推移提升效果显著,其内部各地区海洋渔业生态健康水平的绝对差异呈上升趋势,且极化现象存在加剧趋势。从各要素层分布曲线来看,海洋渔业生态系统活力的下滑制约了海洋渔业生态系统健康水平的提升;海洋渔业生态系统弹性的变化拉动了海洋渔业生态系统健康水平的不断攀升。在长期转移趋势方面,不考虑空间因素条件下,沿海各地区海洋渔业生态系统健康水平具有较强的稳定性与连续性,在3 年的时间跨度内实现跨越式等级跃迁的可能性较小,且存在向低水平和高水平“俱乐部收敛”的可能性。考虑空间因素条件下,中国海洋渔业生态系统健康水平在空间动态条件下的演进趋势呈现“断层”现象。处于1.2耀1.4 临界级与良好级的相邻地区间存在趋同性,而处于0.6 以下风险级与1.4 以上良好级的地区不易与相邻地区发生空间关联作用。     

An integrated approach for assessing the relative significance of human pressures and environmental forcing on the status of Large Marine Ecosystems

An ecosystem approach to the management of the marine environment has received considerable attention over recent years. However, there are few examples which demonstrate its practical implementation. Much of this relates to the history of existing marine monitoring and assessment programmes which (for many countries) are sectoral, making it difficult to integrate monitoring data and knowledge across programmes at the operational level.To address this, a scientific expert group, under the auspices of the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (ICES), prepared a plan for how ICES could contribute to the development of an Integrated Ecosystem Assessment (IEA) for the North Sea by undertaking a pilot study utilising marine monitoring data. This paper presents the main findings arising from the expert group and in particular it sets out one possible integrated approach for assessing the relative significance of environmental forcing and fishing pressure on the ecological status of the North Sea, it then compares the findings with assessments made of other Large Marine Ecosystems (LMEs).We define the North Sea ecosystem on the basis of 114 state and pressure variables resolved as annual averages between 1983 and 2003 and at the spatial scale of ICES rectangles. The paper presents results of integrated time-series and spatial analysis which identifies and explains significant spatial and temporal gradients in the data. For example, a significant shift in the status of the North Sea ecosystem (based upon 114 state-pressure variables) is identified to have occurred around 1993. This corresponds to previously documented shifts in the environmental conditions (particularly sea surface temperature) and changes in the distribution of key species of plankton (Calanus sp.), both reported to have occurred in 1989. The difference in specific timing between reported regime shifts for the North Sea may be explained, in part, by time-lag dependencies in the trophic structure of the ecosystem with shifts in higher trophic levels occurring later than 1989.By examining the connection (or relatedness) between ecosystem components (e.g. environment, plankton, fish, fishery and seabirds) for the identified regime states (1983–1993; 1993–2003) we conclude that both the North Sea pelagic and benthic parts of the ecosystem were predominantly top-down (fishery) controlled between 1983 and 1993, whereas between 1993 and 2003 the pelagic stocks shifted to a state responding mainly to bottom-up (environment) influences. However, for the demersal fish stocks between 1993 and 2003 top-down (fishery) pressure dominated even though over this period significant reductions in fishing pressure occurred. The present analysis, therefore, provides further evidence in support of the need for precautionary management measures taken in relation to setting fishery quotas.     

Detecting Vulnerable Marine Ecosystems in the Southern Ocean using research trawls and underwater imagery

To ensure that destructive bottom fishing activities do not have significant adverse impacts on Vulnerable Marine Ecosystems (VMEs) in high seas areas of the World Ocean, as required by United Nations General Assembly Resolution 61–105, knowledge of the locations of VMEs is required. Quantifying the occurrence and abundance of VME indicator taxa in research bottom-trawl samples, as well as from in situ observations with underwater photography, provides methods for detecting these ecosystems. A case study is presented in which a threshold density of indicator taxa was used as the basis for VME designation. In 2009, high densities of VME indicator taxa were encountered at 11 sites off th`e South Orkney Islands in the Atlantic sector of the Southern Ocean. In most cases, thresholds were exceeded by a limited number of VME indicator taxa, primarily representatives of the class Demospongiae (siliceous sponges), Hexactinellida (glass sponges) and Ascidiacea (tunicates). In situ imagery further showed the importance of bryozoans (lace corals), scleractinians (stony corals) and stylastrids (hydrocorals) in the study region. The approach outlined here, which relies on widely used sampling techniques, could be employed throughout the World Ocean to detect and document the presence of VMEs from existing datasets. To illustrate this point, the method was applied to a separate dataset, collected in 2006, from a research cruise off the northern Antarctic Peninsula, which led to the detection of 17 VMEs. The VMEs from both the 2006 and 2009 data are now registered and influence the management of fisheries in the Southern Ocean.     

黑潮大弯曲内(左)侧的温度锋

本文按多年平均,强型大弯曲和弱型大弯曲三种情况,分别对黑潮大弯曲内(左)侧的温度锋作了探讨.主要结果:(1)日本以南海域黑潮流轴内侧存在着明显的呈带状分布的温度锋.当黑潮发生大弯曲时,温度锋也出现 U 字型弯曲.锋宽10～20n mile,强度0.1～0.2℃/n mile,锋长285～442n mile.该锋随黑潮流轴的摆动而产生变异,季节性差异明显.(2)强型大弯曲和弱型大弯曲期间,温度锋的位置明显不同:前者位置偏南、偏西;后者偏北、偏东.(3)温度锋大致位于50～500m 水层内.冬季,温度锋下沉,其余三季上浮.随着深度的增加,锋面有明显的向右(南)倾斜移动现象。     

黄海大海洋生态系的浮游动物

本文根据1984年8和11月,1985年2月和5月对渤海、黄海进行的浮游生物调查及1980年8月和11月,1981年2月和5月对江苏海岸带水域进行的浮游生物调查,所获取的大网浮游生物样品,分析、总结浮游动物的生态特性,并针对当前即将开展的黄海大海洋生态系的研究,提出浮游动物拟重点进行的调查研究工作。     

Towards High-Resolution Habitat Suitability Modeling of Vulnerable Marine Ecosystems in the Deep-Sea: Resolving Terrain Attribute Dependencies

Recent habitat suitability models used to predict the occurrence of vulnerable marine species, particularly framework building cold-water corals, have identified terrain attributes such as slope and bathymetric position index as important predictive parameters. Due to their scale-dependent nature, a realistic representation of terrain attributes is crucial for the development of reliable habitat suitability models. In this paper, three known coral areas and a noncoral control area off the west coast of Ireland were chosen to assess quantitative and distributional differences between terrain attributes derived from bathymetry grids of varying resolution and information content. Correlation analysis identified consistent changes of terrain attributes as grain size was altered. Response characteristics and dimensions depended on terrain attribute types and the dominant morphological length-scales within the study areas. The subsequent effect on habitat suitability maps was demonstrated by preliminary models generated at different grain sizes. This study demonstrates that high resolution habitat suitability models based on terrain parameters derived from multibeam generated bathymetry are required to detect many of the topographical features found in Irish waters that are associated with coral. This has implications for marine spatial planning in the deep sea. Supplemental materials are available for this article. Go to the publisher's online edition of Marine Geodesy to view the free supplemental file.     

The Large Marine Ecosystem network approach to WSSD targets

Since the 1992 United Nations Conference on Environment and Development, considerable movement has been made by international organizations engaged in ocean affairs towards adopting ecosystem-based assessment and management practices. A decade later, at the World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD), another significant milestone was reached with the support, by over 100 countries, for a Plan of Implementation that agreed on several specific ecosystem-related targets including: achievement of “substantial” reductions in land-based sources of pollution by 2006; introduction of the ecosystems approach to marine resource assessment and management by 2010; designation of a network of marine protected areas by 2012; and the maintenance and restoration of fish stocks to maximum sustainable yield levels by 2015. An international financial mechanism, the Global Environment Facility (GEF), is assisting developing countries in meeting the WSSD targets by supporting Large Marine Ecosystem (LME) assessment and management projects. Of the 29 LMEs for which published case study information is available on analyses of principal forces driving changes in biomass yields, fishing effort was the primary forcing mechanism in 14 LMEs, climate forcing was the principal factor in 13 LMEs, eutrophication in one case and the data were inconclusive in another. Fishing effort was a secondary driver of change in biomass yields in the 13 LMEs driven by climate forcing. Mitigating actions for reducing fishing effort to promote recovery of lost biomass yield is proving successful in one case study. Actions for improving forecasts of oceanographic conditions affecting fish stocks are underway in four GEF-supported LME projects (e.g., Humboldt Current, Canary Current, Guinea Current and Benguela Current); measures to assess and manage excessive fishing effort are planned for eight LME projects, eutrophication reduction and control in another; and six LMEs with relatively stable decadal biomass yields appear suitable for mandating precautionary total allowable catch levels. The GEF/LME projects include countries that contributed to 45% of global marine biomass yields in 1999.     

Determining Water Depths for Monitoring Coastal Water Quality Using Multiple Functional Traits of Periphytic Protozoa in Marine Ecosystems

Ocean Science Journal - Biological trait analysis (BTA) of protozoan communities has been used a useful bioindicator of environmental quality status in marine ecosystems. To determine the optimal...     

A sixteen-country mobilization for sustainable fisheries in the Guinea Current Large Marine Ecosystem

The Guinea Current Large Marine Ecosystem (GCLME) extending from Bissagos Island (Guinea Bissau) in the north to Cabinda (Angola) in the south defines the shared transboundary waters off the coast of western Africa, which embodies some of the major coastal upwelling sub-ecosystems of the world and is an important centre of marine biodiversity and marine food production. The GCLME is characterized by distinctive bathymetry, hydrography, chemistry, and trophodynamics and represents the number 28 Large Marine Ecosystem (LME) ranked among the most productive coastal and offshore waters in the world with rich fishery resources. However, over-exploitation of fisheries, pollution from domestic and industry sources, habitat destruction and poorly planned and managed coastal developments and near-shore activities are resulting in a rapid depletion of the rich fisheries resources and degradation of vulnerable coastal and offshore habitats putting the economies, productivity and health of the populace at risk. Recognizing the urgency of the fisheries decline and the environmental and socio-economic consequences for the region, the 16 countries bordering the ecosystem have mobilized complementary resources to the funding from the Global Environment Facility and United Nations Industrial Development Organization to implement priority management actions agreed in the preliminary Strategic Action Programme for the recovery of depleted fish stocks and restoration of degraded habitats for the advancement of the achievement of the World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD) Johannesburg Plan of Implementation targets for recovery of fish stocks.     

Dynamics of ecosystems and anthropogenic drivers in the Yellow Sea Large Marine Ecosystem

<正>In the developed world, governance of marine ecological environment is the important part of the national ecological and economic outcome. The Yellow Sea is one of large marine ecosystems in the seas of East Asia, which is an extension of one of the largest continental shelf areas, and forms a huge but shallow sediment body in its south area which is geographically unique in the world. As a region with the most fragile natural environment, unparalleled global ecological significance and...     

超大海洋保护区建设利弊分析

近年来,海洋保护区被不断的"巨型化",这一方面显示了国际社会对海洋保护的重视;另一方面,这股建设超大海洋保护区的浪潮也受到了很多科学工作者的质疑和批判。文章通过分析整理国内外相关文献,结合目前全球几个著名的超大海洋保护区案例,评价建设超大海洋保护区的利弊,并总结出我国海洋保护区建设可借鉴的经验。