Paradigm lost, or is top-down forcing no longer significant in the Antarctic marine ecosystem?
Abstract Investigations in recent years of the ecological structure and processes of the Southern Ocean have almost exclusively taken a bottom-up, forcing-by-physical-processes approach relating various species' population trends to climate change. Just 20 years ago, however, researchers focuse...
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Online Access: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s095410200700051x https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/S095410200700051X |
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crcambridgeupr:10.1017/s095410200700051x 2024-09-15T17:44:45+00:00 Paradigm lost, or is top-down forcing no longer significant in the Antarctic marine ecosystem? Ainley, David Ballard, Grant Ackley, Steve Blight, Louise K. Eastman, Joseph T. Emslie, Steven D. Lescroël, Amélie Olmastroni, Silvia Townsend, Susan E. Tynan, Cynthia T. Wilson, Peter Woehler, Eric 2007 http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s095410200700051x https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/S095410200700051X en eng Cambridge University Press (CUP) https://www.cambridge.org/core/terms Antarctic Science volume 19, issue 3, page 283-290 ISSN 0954-1020 1365-2079 journal-article 2007 crcambridgeupr https://doi.org/10.1017/s095410200700051x 2024-08-07T04:01:36Z Abstract Investigations in recent years of the ecological structure and processes of the Southern Ocean have almost exclusively taken a bottom-up, forcing-by-physical-processes approach relating various species' population trends to climate change. Just 20 years ago, however, researchers focused on a broader set of hypotheses, in part formed around a paradigm positing interspecific interactions as central to structuring the ecosystem (forcing by biotic processes, top-down), and particularly on a “krill surplus” caused by the removal from the system of more than a million baleen whales. Since then, this latter idea has disappeared from favour with little debate. Moreover, it recently has been shown that concurrent with whaling there was a massive depletion of finfish in the Southern Ocean, a finding also ignored in deference to climate-related explanations of ecosystem change. We present two examples from the literature, one involving gelatinous organisms and the other involving penguins, in which climate has been used to explain species' population trends but which could better be explained by including species interactions in the modelling. We conclude by questioning the almost complete shift in paradigms that has occurred and discuss whether it is leading Southern Ocean marine ecological science in an instructive direction. Article in Journal/Newspaper Antarc* Antarctic Antarctic Science baleen whales Southern Ocean Cambridge University Press Antarctic Science 19 3 283 290 |
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Open Polar |
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Cambridge University Press |
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crcambridgeupr |
language |
English |
description |
Abstract Investigations in recent years of the ecological structure and processes of the Southern Ocean have almost exclusively taken a bottom-up, forcing-by-physical-processes approach relating various species' population trends to climate change. Just 20 years ago, however, researchers focused on a broader set of hypotheses, in part formed around a paradigm positing interspecific interactions as central to structuring the ecosystem (forcing by biotic processes, top-down), and particularly on a “krill surplus” caused by the removal from the system of more than a million baleen whales. Since then, this latter idea has disappeared from favour with little debate. Moreover, it recently has been shown that concurrent with whaling there was a massive depletion of finfish in the Southern Ocean, a finding also ignored in deference to climate-related explanations of ecosystem change. We present two examples from the literature, one involving gelatinous organisms and the other involving penguins, in which climate has been used to explain species' population trends but which could better be explained by including species interactions in the modelling. We conclude by questioning the almost complete shift in paradigms that has occurred and discuss whether it is leading Southern Ocean marine ecological science in an instructive direction. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Ainley, David Ballard, Grant Ackley, Steve Blight, Louise K. Eastman, Joseph T. Emslie, Steven D. Lescroël, Amélie Olmastroni, Silvia Townsend, Susan E. Tynan, Cynthia T. Wilson, Peter Woehler, Eric |
spellingShingle |
Ainley, David Ballard, Grant Ackley, Steve Blight, Louise K. Eastman, Joseph T. Emslie, Steven D. Lescroël, Amélie Olmastroni, Silvia Townsend, Susan E. Tynan, Cynthia T. Wilson, Peter Woehler, Eric Paradigm lost, or is top-down forcing no longer significant in the Antarctic marine ecosystem? |
author_facet |
Ainley, David Ballard, Grant Ackley, Steve Blight, Louise K. Eastman, Joseph T. Emslie, Steven D. Lescroël, Amélie Olmastroni, Silvia Townsend, Susan E. Tynan, Cynthia T. Wilson, Peter Woehler, Eric |
author_sort |
Ainley, David |
title |
Paradigm lost, or is top-down forcing no longer significant in the Antarctic marine ecosystem? |
title_short |
Paradigm lost, or is top-down forcing no longer significant in the Antarctic marine ecosystem? |
title_full |
Paradigm lost, or is top-down forcing no longer significant in the Antarctic marine ecosystem? |
title_fullStr |
Paradigm lost, or is top-down forcing no longer significant in the Antarctic marine ecosystem? |
title_full_unstemmed |
Paradigm lost, or is top-down forcing no longer significant in the Antarctic marine ecosystem? |
title_sort |
paradigm lost, or is top-down forcing no longer significant in the antarctic marine ecosystem? |
publisher |
Cambridge University Press (CUP) |
publishDate |
2007 |
url |
http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s095410200700051x https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/S095410200700051X |
genre |
Antarc* Antarctic Antarctic Science baleen whales Southern Ocean |
genre_facet |
Antarc* Antarctic Antarctic Science baleen whales Southern Ocean |
op_source |
Antarctic Science volume 19, issue 3, page 283-290 ISSN 0954-1020 1365-2079 |
op_rights |
https://www.cambridge.org/core/terms |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1017/s095410200700051x |
container_title |
Antarctic Science |
container_volume |
19 |
container_issue |
3 |
container_start_page |
283 |
op_container_end_page |
290 |
_version_ |
1810492416038273024 |