Scale-dependent effects of nutrient loads and climatic conditions on benthic and pelagic communities in the Gulf of Finland

Eutrophication and climate change are ranked among the most serious threats to the stability of marine ecosystems worldwide. The effects of nutrient loads and climatic conditions vary in direction, magnitude and spatial extent. To date the factors that are behind the scale-specific spatial and temporal variability are poorly known. In this study we assessed how variability in nutrient loads and climatic conditions at local, gulf and regional scales explained the spatial patterns and temporal trends of zooplankton and benthic invertebrates in the Gulf of Finland. In general both local and gulf scale environmental variability had an important effect on benthic invertebrate species and the variability was mainly due to local nutrient loading, gulf scale temperature and salinity patterns. Zooplankton species were equally affected by environmental variability at all spatial scales, and all nutrient load and climatic condition variables contributed to the models. The combination of variables at all spatial scales did not explain the substantially larger proportion in invertebrate variability than variables at any individual scale. This suggests that large-scale pressures such as nutrient loads and change of climatic conditions may define broad patterns of distribution but within these patterns small-scale environmental variability significantly modifies the response of communities to these large-scale pressures.     

Review of inorganic nitrogen transformations and effect of global climate change on inorganic nitrogen cycling in ocean ecosystems

Inorganic N transformations (nitrification, anaerobic ammonium oxidation, denitrification, and dissimilatory nitrate reduction to ammonium) are regulated by various biogeochemical factors linked either by the supply of electron acceptors and donors or by competition for electron acceptors. This review considers both the microbial community related to each process and the technical methods used to measure each process rate. With this background knowledge, this article summarizes how global climate change through increased pCO2, ocean acidification, deoxygenation and anthropogenic N deposition will alter oceanic N cycling, and finally emphasizes the need for comprehensive research on inorganic N transformation in marine ecosystems.     

Impacts of Kelvin wave forcing in the Peru Humboldt Current system: Scenarios of spatial reorganizations from physics to fishers

Because climate change challenges the sustainability of important fish populations and the fisheries they support, we need to understand how large scale climatic forcing affects the functioning of marine ecosystems. In the Humboldt Current system (HCS), a main driver of climatic variability is coastally-trapped Kelvin waves (KWs), themselves originating as oceanic equatorial KWs. Here we (i) describe the spatial reorganizations of living organisms in the Humboldt coastal system as affected by oceanic KWs forcing, (ii) quantify the strength of the interactions between the physical and biological component dynamics of the system, (iii) formulate hypotheses on the processes which drive the redistributions of the organisms, and (iv) build scenarios of space occupation in the HCS under varying KW forcing. To address these questions we explore, through bivariate lagged correlations and multivariate statistics, the relationships between time series of oceanic KW amplitude (TAO mooring data and model-resolved baroclinic modes) and coastal Peruvian oceanographic data (SST, coastal upwelled waters extent), anchoveta spatial distribution (mean distance to the coast, spatial concentration of the biomass, mean depth of the schools), and fishing fleet statistics (trip duration, searching duration, number of fishing sets and catch per trip, features of the foraging trajectory as observed by satellite vessel monitoring system). Data sets span all or part of January 1983 to September 2006. The results show that the effects of oceanic KW forcing are significant in all the components of the coastal ecosystem, from oceanography to the behaviour of the top predators – fishers. This result provides evidence for a bottom-up transfer of the behaviours and spatial stucturing through the ecosystem. We propose that contrasting scenarios develop during the passage of upwelling versus downwelling KWs. From a predictive point of view, we show that KW amplitudes observed in the mid-Pacific can be used to forecast which system state will dominate the HCS over the next 2–6 months. Such predictions should be integrated in the Peruvian adaptive fishery management.     

Marine ecosystems’ responses to climatic and anthropogenic forcings in the Mediterranean

The semi-enclosed nature of the Mediterranean Sea, together with its smaller inertia due to the relative short residence time of its water masses, make it highly reactive to external forcings, in particular variations of water, energy and matter fluxes at the interfaces. This region, which has been identified as a “hotspot” for climate change, is therefore expected to experience environmental impacts that are considerably greater than those in many other places around the world. These natural pressures interact with the increasing demographic and economic developments occurring heterogeneously in the coastal zone, making the Mediterranean even more sensitive. This review paper aims to provide a review of the state of current functioning and responses of Mediterranean marine biogeochemical cycles and ecosystems with respect to key natural and anthropogenic drivers and to consider the ecosystems’ responses to likely changes in physical, chemical and socio-economical forcings induced by global change and by growing anthropogenic pressure at the regional scale. The current knowledge on and expected changes due to single forcing (hydrodynamics, solar radiation, temperature and acidification, chemical contaminants) and combined forcing (nutrient sources and stoichiometry, extreme events) affecting the biogeochemical fluxes and ecosystem functioning are explored. Expected changes in biodiversity resulting from the combined action of the different forcings are proposed. Finally, modeling capabilities and necessity for modeling are presented. A synthesis of our current knowledge of expected changes is proposed, highlighting relevant questions for the future of the Mediterranean ecosystems that are current research priorities for the scientific community. Finally, we discuss how these priorities can be approached by national and international multi-disciplinary research, which should be implemented on several levels, including observational studies and modeling at different temporal and spatial scales.     

海洋功能区划与海洋生态红线关系探讨

海洋生态红线制度是我国"五位一体"文明建设的具体要求。为进一步在自然科学与人文科学的联结点上探求深入开展生态红线工作的可能性,文章对比了实施多年的海洋功能区划与历史新阶段提出的海洋生态保护红线的概念和内涵,剖析了两者之间的区别与联系,指出海洋功能区划与海洋生态红线区划在法律地位和管控制度等方面具有一致性,在划分目标、空间管理及划分方法上具有差异性,海洋功能区划以"使用"为主,海洋生态红线以"保护"引领。在此基础上,建议未来海洋生态红线工作的开展可从海洋功能区划借鉴经验,建立完善的管控评估制度,确立生态保护红线的优先地位,处理好海洋功能区划与海洋生态红线区划的关系。同时,海洋生态红线区划应以维持海洋生态系统结构稳定和提高海洋生态系统服务功能为目标,将区域资源环境承载力评估作为一项参考指标,限制低承载区的开发利用,保证海洋生态环境健康可持续发展。     

Modeling environmental effects on the size-structured energy flow through marine ecosystems. Part 1: The model

This paper presents an original size-structured mathematical model of the energy flow through marine ecosystems, based on established ecological and physiological processes and mass conservation principles. The model is based on a nonlocal partial differential equation which represents the transfer of energy in both time and body weight (size) in marine ecosystems. The processes taken into account include size-based opportunistic trophic interactions, competition for food, allocation of energy between growth and reproduction, somatic and maturity maintenance, predatory and starvation mortality. All the physiological rates are temperature-dependent. The physiological bases of the model are derived from the dynamic energy budget theory. The model outputs the dynamic size-spectrum of marine ecosystems in term of energy content per weight class as well as many other size-dependent diagnostic variables such as growth rate, egg production or predation mortality.In stable environmental conditions and using a reference set of parameters derived from empirical studies, the model converges toward a stationary linear log–log size-spectrum with a slope equal to −1.06, which is consistent with the values reported in empirical studies. In some cases, the distribution of the largest sizes departs from the stationary linear solution and is slightly curved downward. A sensitivity analysis to the parameters is conducted systematically. It shows that the stationary size-spectrum is not very sensitive to the parameters of the model. Numerical simulations of the effects of temperature and primary production variability on marine ecosystems size-spectra are provided in a companion paper [Maury, O., Shin, Y.-J., Faugeras, B., Ben Ari, T., Marsac, F., 2007. Modeling environmental effects on the size-structured energy flow through marine ecosystems. Part 2: simulations. Progress in Oceanography, doi:10.1016/j.pocean.2007.05.001].     

Environmental controls on food web regimes: A fluvial perspective

Because food web regimes control the biomass of primary producers (e.g., plants or algae), intermediate consumers (e.g., invertebrates), and large top predators (tuna, killer whales), they are of societal as well as academic interest. Some controls over food web regimes may be internal, but many are mediated by conditions or fluxes over large spatial scales. To understand locally observed changes in food webs, we must learn more about how environmental gradients and boundaries affect the fluxes of energy, materials, or organisms through landscapes or seascapes that influence local species interactions. Marine biologists and oceanographers have overcome formidable challenges of fieldwork on the high seas to make remarkable progress towards this goal. In river drainage networks, we have opportunities to address similar questions at smaller spatial scales, in ecosystems with clear physical structure and organization. Despite these advantages, we still have much to learn about linkages between fluxes from watershed landscapes and local food webs in river networks. Longitudinal (downstream) gradients in productivity, disturbance regimes, and habitat structure exert strong effects on the organisms and energy sources of river food webs, but their effects on species interactions are just beginning to be explored. In fluid ecosystems with less obvious physical structure, like the open ocean, discerning features that control the movement of organisms and affect food web dynamics is even more challenging. In both habitats, new sensing, tracing and mapping technologies have revealed how landscape or seascape features (e.g., watershed divides, ocean fronts or circulation cells) channel, contain or concentrate organisms, energy and materials. Field experiments and direct in situ observations of basic natural history, however, remain as vital as ever in interpreting the responses of biota to these features. We need field data that quantify the many spatial and temporal scales of functional relationships that link environments, fluxes and food web interactions to understand how they will respond to intensifying anthropogenic forcing over the coming decades.     

The science of European marine reserves: Status,efficacy, and future needs

The ecologically and socio-economically important marine ecosystems of Europe are facing severe threats from a variety of human impacts. To mitigate and potentially reverse some of these impacts, the European Union (EU) has mandated the implementation of the Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD) in order to achieve Good Environmental Status (GES) in EU waters by 2020. The primary initiative for achieving GES is the implementation of coherent networks of marine protected areas (MPAs). Marine reserves are an important type of MPA in which no extraction is allowed, but their usefulness depends upon a number of ecological, management, and political factors. This paper provides a synthesis of the ecological effects of existing European marine reserves and the factors (social and ecological) underlying their effectiveness. Results show that existing European marine reserves foster significant positive increases in key biological variables (density, biomass, body size, and species richness) compared with areas receiving less protection, a pattern mirrored by marine reserves around the globe. For marine reserves to achieve their ecological and social goals, however, they must be designed, managed, and enforced properly. In addition, identifying whether protected areas are ecologically connected as a network, as well as where new MPAs should be established according to the MSFD, requires information on the connectivity of populations across large areas. The adoption of the MSFD demonstrates willingness to achieve the long-term protection of Europe's marine ecosystems, but whether the political will (local, regional, and continent wide) is strong enough to see its mandates through remains to be seen. Although the MSFD does not explicitly require marine reserves, an important step towards the protection of Europe's marine ecosystems is the establishment of marine reserves within wider-use MPAs as connected networks across large spatial scales.     

Ecosystemic zonification as a management tool for marine protected areas in the coastal zone: Applications for the Sistema Arrecifal Veracruzano National Park,Mexico

Protected marine areas management depends mainly on the zonification schemes applied. The aim of the present work is to propose a zonification scheme for protected marine areas in the coastal zone, based on the ecosystem features. This ecosystemic zonification is based on structural and functional elements of marine ecosystems, and allows the incorporation of the main environmental characteristics into the management plan of these areas, whether information about biotic factors is available or not. Based on this, a zonification of the Sistema Arrecifal Veracruzano National Park is proposed, which considers the identification of various subsystems, seascapes and environmental units within nested scales, to be included in the national park management plan.     

Interplay between top-down, bottom-up, and wasp-waist control in marine ecosystems

In October 2004, the North Pacific Marine Science Organization (PICES) sponsored a symposium to consider “Mechanisms that regulate North Pacific ecosystems: Bottom up, top down, or something else?” It sought to examine how marine populations, particularly the upper-trophic-level species, are regulated and to understand how energy flows through marine ecosystems. This introductory essay examines aspects of control mechanisms in pelagic marine ecosystems and some of the issues discussed during the symposium and in the 11 papers that were selected for this special issue. At global scales, the greatest biomass of fishes, seabirds and marine mammals tends to occur in regions of the world ocean with high primary production, e.g., the sub-arctic seas and up-welling regions of continental shelves. These large-scale animal distribution patterns are driven by food availability, not the absence of predators. At regional scales however, it is likely that current predation or past predation events have shaped local distributions, at least in marine birds and pinnipeds. Wasp-waist control occurs when one of the intermediate trophic levels is dominated by a single species, as occurs with small pelagic fishes of the world’s up-welling zones. Processes in these ecosystems may have features that result in a switch from bottom-up to top-down control.     

典型海洋生态系统生态修复成效评估研究进展与展望

近年来,海洋生态系统生态修复成效评估研究日益受到关注.本文梳理了国内外在红树林、珊瑚礁、海草床、盐沼湿地等四类典型海洋生态系统生态修复成效评估指标和评估方法方面的研究进展.结果 表明,典型海洋生态系统在进行生态修复成效评估时,基于修复目标和修复方法,评估指标选取虽各有侧重,但主要包括生物和生境状况两个方面.多数生态修复...     

Recent climate forcing and physical oceanographic changes in Northern Hemisphere regions: A review and comparison of four marine ecosystems

As part of a project comparing the structure and function of four marine ecosystems off Norway and the United States, this paper examines the oceanographic responses to climate forcing, with emphasis on recent changes. The four Northern Hemisphere ecosystems include two in the Pacific Ocean (Bering Sea and Gulf of Alaska) and two in the Atlantic Ocean (Georges Bank/Gulf of Maine and the Barents/Norwegian Seas). Air temperatures, wind forcing and heat fluxes over the four regions are compared as well as ocean hydrography and sea-ice conditions where seasonal sea ice is found. The long-term interannual variability in air temperatures, winds and net heat fluxes show strong similarity between adjacent ecosystems and within subregions of an ecosystem, but no significant correlations between Pacific and Atlantic ecosystems and few across the Atlantic. In spite of the lack of correlation between climate forcing and ocean conditions between most of the ecosystems, recent years have seen record or near record highs in air and sea temperatures in all ecosystems. The apparent causes of the warming differ. In the Atlantic, they appear to be due to advection, while in the Pacific temperatures are more closely linked to air-sea heat exchanges. Advection is also responsible for the observed changes in salinity in the Atlantic ecosystems (generally increasing salinity in the Barents and Norwegian Seas and decreasing in the Gulf of Maine and Georges Bank) while salinity changes in the Gulf of Alaska are largely related to increased local runoff.     

Marine ecosystem variability and human community responses: The example of Ghana,West Africa

This study describes variability in the marine ecosystem of Ghana, West Africa, on several temporal and spatial scales and discusses how the human communities using this ecosystem respond to this variability to cope socially and economically. Ghanaian marine waters are part of an upwelling system with strong seasonal and inter-annual variability. Much of this variability is forced at large spatial scales in the tropical Atlantic and by El Niño—Southern Oscillation events in the Pacific Ocean, which influence inter-annual variability of sea surface temperature and pelagic fish landings off Ghana. At decadal scales, Ghanaian marine waters experienced cool sea temperatures and low fishery landings during the 1960s, rapid warming and increases in fishery landings during the late 1970s and 1980s, and variable temperatures and fishery landings during the 1990s. In the late 1990s, pelagic and demersal fish populations appeared to be declining, partly due to over-fishing, although the per capita supply (domestic production plus net imports) of fish was kept high by increased imports. Artisanal fishers and fishing communities in Ghana have devised strategies to deal with variability on seasonal and inter-annual scales. These livelihood strategies include: (i) exploiting marine and terrestrial natural resources more intensively, initially at local scales but expanding to regional scales; (ii) ensuring multiple and diversified income sources; (iii) investing in social relationships and communities for support; and (iv) undertaking seasonal or permanent migrations. In addition, the national government imports fish to deal with shortages. However, these strategies may be less adapted to variability at decadal scales, and may not be sustainable when viewed at the larger scales of environmental change.     

Climate variability and marine ecosystem impacts: a North Atlantic perspective

In recent decades it has been recognized that in the North Atlantic climatic variability has been largely driven by atmospheric forcing related to the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO). The NAO index began a pronounced decline around 1950 to a low in the 1960s. From 1970 onward the NAO index increased to its most extreme and persistent positive phase during the late 1980s and early 1990s. Changes in the pattern of the NAO have differential impacts on the opposite sides of the North Atlantic and differential impacts in the north and south. The changes in climate resulting from changes in the NAO appear to have had substantial impacts on marine ecosystems, in particular, on fish productivity, with the effects varying from region to region. An examination of several species and stocks, e.g. gadoids, herring and plankton in the Northeast Atlantic and cod and shellfish in the Northwest Atlantic, indicates that there is a link between long-term trends in the NAO and the productivity of various components of the marine ecosystem. While broad trends are evident, the mechanisms are poorly understood. Further research is needed to improve our understanding of how this climate variability affects the productivity of various components of the North Atlantic marine ecosystem.     

An innovation and agency perspective on the emergence and spread of Marine Spatial Planning

The roles of governance and technological innovation have been widely recognized as important parts of sustainability transitions. However, less attention has been paid to understanding the mechanisms of the emergence and spread of innovative ideas for stewardship of social–ecological systems. This study considers how theories of innovation and agency are able to provide explanatory power regarding the spread and impact of such ideas. This includes how innovations may contribute to resolving the mismatches between the scale of ecological processes and the scale of governance of ecosystems. The emergence and spread of Marine Spatial Planning (MSP) is used as an illustrative case study. The study shows that individuals embedded in informal networks have played a key role in driving the emergence of MSP across scales and in constantly re-framing the tool in order to overcome obstacles to adoption and implementation. In a number of cases, MSP has been decoupled from the ecosystem despite being framed as a tool for ecosystem-based management. Finally, this study is important to understand the process of emergence of new integrated tools for ecosystem stewardship at the global level.     

Subtidal macroalgal richness,diversity and turnover,at multiple spatial scales,along the southwestern Australian coastline

Patterns of species richness are governed by processes that act at vastly different spatial scales. In the marine system of southwest Australia, macroalgal assemblage structure and richness is thought to be strongly influenced by both the Leeuwin Current, which acts at large regional spatial scales, and small-scale processes such as competition, wave disturbance and habitat heterogeneity. We examined macroalgal species richness and diversity at multiple spatial scales using a three-factor hierarchal design. Spatial extents ranged from metres (between quadrats) to many hundreds of kilometres (between regions), and the study encompassed almost 2000 km of temperate coastline. Macroalgal assemblages were highly speciose and the number, identity, and diversity of species varied considerably at all spatial scales. Small scale variability, at the scale of site or quadrat, contributed most to total variation in species richness and diversity, suggesting that small-scale processes are important drivers of ecological pattern in this system. Species richness, diversity and taxonomic distinctness increased sequentially along the coastline, from warmer to cooler waters. Small scale variability was most likely maintained by wave disturbance and habitat heterogeneity at these scales, while regional scale diversity and richness clines were attributed to the fact that most species had cool-water affinities and the southern coast of Australia is a hotspot of floral speciation and diversity. Macroalgal assemblages in southwest Australia are speciose and largely endemic, and biodiversity patterns are structured by multiple processes operating at multiple spatial scales.     

On some hypotheses of diversity of animal life at great depths on the sea floor

Multiple hypotheses have emerged to explain the apparent paradox of high diversity of the deep‐sea benthos when the environmental conditions are often predicted to inhibit rather than promote diversity. Many fundamental facets of these paradigms remain incompletely understood despite being central to understanding how deep‐sea ecosystems, and more generally all ecosystems, function. Here, we examine nine major paradigms of deep‐sea diversity that deserve, in our opinion, a fresh research impetus. We purposely challenge many of these ideas to generate dialogue and encourage further research. Some of the axiomatic predictions of these paradigms are: (i) the deep sea is highly diverse; (ii) stable environments reduce competition; (iii) species have finely partitioned niches; (iv) biological cropping promotes diversity; (v) disturbance controls diversity; (vi) patch mosaics structure assemblages; (vii) productivity controls diversity; (viii) recovery from disturbance is slow; and (ix) the deep sea is notoriously under‐sampled. We critically examine the evidence for each of these predictions and highlight areas where knowledge gaps exist and linkages to general ecological theory should occur. We conclude each section with ideas about questions and hypotheses that may fruitfully be tackled in future projects.     

Reviewing evidence of marine ecosystem change off South Africa

Recent changes have been observed in South African marine ecosystems. The main pressures on these ecosystems are fishing, climate change, pollution, ocean acidification and mining. The best long-term datasets are for trends in fishing pressures but there are many gaps, especially for non-commercial species. Fishing pressures have varied over time, depending on the species being caught. Little information exists for trends in other anthropogenic pressures. Field observations of environmental variables are limited in time and space. Remotely sensed satellite data have improved spatial and temporal coverage but the time-series are still too short to distinguish long-term trends from interannual and decadal variability. There are indications of recent cooling on the West and South coasts and warming on the East Coast over a period of 20–30 years. Oxygen concentrations on the West Coast have decreased over this period. Observed changes in offshore marine communities include southward and eastward changes in species distributions, changes in abundance of species, and probable alterations in foodweb dynamics. Causes of observed changes are difficult to attribute. Full understanding of marine ecosystem change requires ongoing and effective data collection, management and archiving, and coordination in carrying out ecosystem research.     

基于陆海统筹的资源环境承载力评价方法探讨

海洋、海岸带蕴含的资源丰富,与人类生存发展息息相关。近年来,随着海洋经济的迅速增长,自然岸线和滨海湿地面积减少、生物多样性降低、典型生态系统受损、近岸海域灾害频发、渔业资源减少等问题日益显现。如何从战略高度提升海洋经济,开发和保护并举,确保海岸带、海洋资源取用合理是新时代的重要课题。陆地和海洋是生态系统不可分割的组成部分,开展陆海统筹的资源环境承载力评价是衡量区域经济发展与生态环境是否协调可持续发展的有效途径。文章系统地梳理了承载力概念的发展历程,对比了常用的海洋资源环境承载力评价方法,初步构建了陆海统筹的资源环境承载力评价指标体系,并提出使用熵值法来确定指标权重,采用状态空间评价模型或TOPSIS模型进行承载力综合评价,可以体现陆地和海洋相互影响、相互制约的关系,并具有较强的可操作性,评价结果可以反映区域资源环境承载力的空间差异或随时间变化情况,能够为海洋和海岸带保护利用提供有效借鉴。