title: The role of sustained observations in tracking impacts of environmental change on marine biodiversity and ecosystems.
abstract: Marine biodiversity currently faces unprecedented threats from multiple pressures arising from human activities. Global drivers such as climate change and ocean acidification interact with regional eutrophication, exploitation of commercial fish stocks and localized pressures including pollution, coastal development and the extraction of aggregates and fuel, causing alteration and degradation of habitats and communities. Segregating natural from anthropogenically induced change in marine ecosystems requires long-term, sustained observations of marine biota. In this review, we outline the history of biological recording in the coastal and shelf seas of the UK and Ireland and highlight where sustained observations have contributed new understanding of how anthropogenic activities have impacted on marine biodiversity. The contributions of sustained observations, from those collected at observatories, single station platforms and multiple-site programmes to the emergent field of multiple stressor impacts research, are discussed, along with implications for management and sustainable governance of marine resources in an era of unprecedented use of the marine environment.
authors.affiliation: Marine Biological Association of the UK, Citadel Hill, Plymouth PL1 2PB, UK nova@mba.ac.uk.
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Mieszkowska
authors.affiliation: The Dove Marine Laboratory, School of Marine Science and Technology, Newcastle University, Cullercoats NE30 4PZ, UK.
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Sugden
authors.affiliation: Zoology, Ryan Institute, National University of Ireland Galway, Galway, Ireland.
authors.forename: L B
authors.initials: LB
authors.lastname: Firth
authors.affiliation: Marine Biological Association of the UK, Citadel Hill, Plymouth PL1 2PB, UK Ocean and Earth Science, National Oceanography Centre Southampton, Waterfront Campus, University of Southampton, European Way, Southampton SO14 3ZH, UK.
authors.forename: S J
authors.initials: SJ
authors.lastname: Hawkins
mesh_terms: D059001:Aquatic Organisms; D044822:Biodiversity; D002980:Climate; D006801:Humans; D008386:Marine Biology / Q000379:methods*; D057766:Policy; D013997:Time Factors; D006113:United Kingdom
keywords: climate change; ecosystem; marine biodiversity; multiple stressors; sustained observations; timeseries