How do polar marine ecosystems respond to rapid climate change?
Climate change will alter marine ecosystems; however, the complexity of the food webs, combined with chronic undersampling, constrains efforts to predict their future and to optimally manage and protect marine resources. Sustained observations at the West Antarctic Peninsula show that in this region, rapid environmental change has coincided with shifts in the food web, from its base up to apex predators. New strategies will be required to gain further insight into how the marine climate system has influenced such changes and how it will do so in the future. Robotic networks, satellites, ships, and instruments mounted on animals and ice will collect data needed to improve numerical models that can then be used to study the future of polar ecosystems as climate change progresses.
Schofield
Oscar
O
Coastal Ocean Observation Laboratory, Institute of Marine and Coastal Sciences, School of Environmental and Biological Sciences, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ 08901, USA. oscar@marine.rutgers.edu
Ducklow
Hugh W
HW
Martinson
Douglas G
DG
Meredith
Michael P
MP
Moline
Mark A
MA
Fraser
William R
WR
D000818:Animals; D000864:Antarctic Regions; D018533:Biomass; D001717:Birds; D057231:Climate Change; D003081:Cold Climate; D017753:Ecosystem; D005399:Fishes; D020387:Food Chain; D046448:Ice Cover; D008322:Mammals; D009791:Oceanography / Q000379:methods; D009792:Oceans and Seas; D010839:Phytoplankton; D011157:Population Dynamics; D012623:Seawater