Exceptional 20th Century Shifts in Deep-Sea Ecosystems Are Spatially Heterogeneous and Associated With Local Surface Ocean Variability
Traditionally, deep-sea ecosystems have been considered to be insulated from the effects of modern climate change, but with the recognition of the importance of food supply from the surface ocean and deep-sea currents to sustaining these systems, the potential for rapid response of benthic systems t...
Published in: | Frontiers in Marine Science |
---|---|
Main Authors: | , , , , , , , , , , |
Other Authors: | , , , |
Format: | Article in Journal/Newspaper |
Language: | unknown |
Published: |
Frontiers Media SA
2021
|
Subjects: | |
Online Access: | http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fmars.2021.663009 https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fmars.2021.663009/full |
id |
crfrontiers:10.3389/fmars.2021.663009 |
---|---|
record_format |
openpolar |
spelling |
crfrontiers:10.3389/fmars.2021.663009 2024-03-31T07:54:20+00:00 Exceptional 20th Century Shifts in Deep-Sea Ecosystems Are Spatially Heterogeneous and Associated With Local Surface Ocean Variability O’Brien, Charlotte L. Spooner, Peter T. Wharton, Jack H. Papachristopoulou, Eirini Dutton, Nicolas Fairman, David Garratt, Rebecca Li, Tianying Pallottino, Francesco Stringer, Fiona Thornalley, David J. R. Natural Environment Research Council Leverhulme Trust Horizon 2020 Framework Programme Atlas Network 2021 http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fmars.2021.663009 https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fmars.2021.663009/full unknown Frontiers Media SA https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Frontiers in Marine Science volume 8 ISSN 2296-7745 Ocean Engineering Water Science and Technology Aquatic Science Global and Planetary Change Oceanography journal-article 2021 crfrontiers https://doi.org/10.3389/fmars.2021.663009 2024-03-05T00:09:17Z Traditionally, deep-sea ecosystems have been considered to be insulated from the effects of modern climate change, but with the recognition of the importance of food supply from the surface ocean and deep-sea currents to sustaining these systems, the potential for rapid response of benthic systems to climate change is gaining increasing attention. However, very few ecological time-series exist for the deep ocean covering the twentieth century. Benthic responses to past climate change have been well-documented using marine sediment cores on glacial-interglacial timescales, and ocean sediments have also begun to reveal that planktic species assemblages are already being influenced by global warming. Here, we use benthic foraminifera found in mid-latitude and subpolar North Atlantic sediment cores to show that, in locations beneath areas of major surface water change, benthic ecosystems have also changed significantly over the last ∼150 years. The maximum benthic response occurs in areas which have seen large changes in surface circulation, temperature, and/or productivity. We infer that the observed surface-deep ocean coupling is due to changes in the supply of organic matter exported from the surface ocean and delivered to the seafloor. The local-to-regional scale nature of these changes highlights that accurate projections of changes in deep-sea ecosystems will require (1) increased spatial coverage of deep-sea proxy records, and (2) models capable of adequately resolving these relatively small-scale oceanographic features. Article in Journal/Newspaper North Atlantic Frontiers (Publisher) Frontiers in Marine Science 8 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Frontiers (Publisher) |
op_collection_id |
crfrontiers |
language |
unknown |
topic |
Ocean Engineering Water Science and Technology Aquatic Science Global and Planetary Change Oceanography |
spellingShingle |
Ocean Engineering Water Science and Technology Aquatic Science Global and Planetary Change Oceanography O’Brien, Charlotte L. Spooner, Peter T. Wharton, Jack H. Papachristopoulou, Eirini Dutton, Nicolas Fairman, David Garratt, Rebecca Li, Tianying Pallottino, Francesco Stringer, Fiona Thornalley, David J. R. Exceptional 20th Century Shifts in Deep-Sea Ecosystems Are Spatially Heterogeneous and Associated With Local Surface Ocean Variability |
topic_facet |
Ocean Engineering Water Science and Technology Aquatic Science Global and Planetary Change Oceanography |
description |
Traditionally, deep-sea ecosystems have been considered to be insulated from the effects of modern climate change, but with the recognition of the importance of food supply from the surface ocean and deep-sea currents to sustaining these systems, the potential for rapid response of benthic systems to climate change is gaining increasing attention. However, very few ecological time-series exist for the deep ocean covering the twentieth century. Benthic responses to past climate change have been well-documented using marine sediment cores on glacial-interglacial timescales, and ocean sediments have also begun to reveal that planktic species assemblages are already being influenced by global warming. Here, we use benthic foraminifera found in mid-latitude and subpolar North Atlantic sediment cores to show that, in locations beneath areas of major surface water change, benthic ecosystems have also changed significantly over the last ∼150 years. The maximum benthic response occurs in areas which have seen large changes in surface circulation, temperature, and/or productivity. We infer that the observed surface-deep ocean coupling is due to changes in the supply of organic matter exported from the surface ocean and delivered to the seafloor. The local-to-regional scale nature of these changes highlights that accurate projections of changes in deep-sea ecosystems will require (1) increased spatial coverage of deep-sea proxy records, and (2) models capable of adequately resolving these relatively small-scale oceanographic features. |
author2 |
Natural Environment Research Council Leverhulme Trust Horizon 2020 Framework Programme Atlas Network |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
O’Brien, Charlotte L. Spooner, Peter T. Wharton, Jack H. Papachristopoulou, Eirini Dutton, Nicolas Fairman, David Garratt, Rebecca Li, Tianying Pallottino, Francesco Stringer, Fiona Thornalley, David J. R. |
author_facet |
O’Brien, Charlotte L. Spooner, Peter T. Wharton, Jack H. Papachristopoulou, Eirini Dutton, Nicolas Fairman, David Garratt, Rebecca Li, Tianying Pallottino, Francesco Stringer, Fiona Thornalley, David J. R. |
author_sort |
O’Brien, Charlotte L. |
title |
Exceptional 20th Century Shifts in Deep-Sea Ecosystems Are Spatially Heterogeneous and Associated With Local Surface Ocean Variability |
title_short |
Exceptional 20th Century Shifts in Deep-Sea Ecosystems Are Spatially Heterogeneous and Associated With Local Surface Ocean Variability |
title_full |
Exceptional 20th Century Shifts in Deep-Sea Ecosystems Are Spatially Heterogeneous and Associated With Local Surface Ocean Variability |
title_fullStr |
Exceptional 20th Century Shifts in Deep-Sea Ecosystems Are Spatially Heterogeneous and Associated With Local Surface Ocean Variability |
title_full_unstemmed |
Exceptional 20th Century Shifts in Deep-Sea Ecosystems Are Spatially Heterogeneous and Associated With Local Surface Ocean Variability |
title_sort |
exceptional 20th century shifts in deep-sea ecosystems are spatially heterogeneous and associated with local surface ocean variability |
publisher |
Frontiers Media SA |
publishDate |
2021 |
url |
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fmars.2021.663009 https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fmars.2021.663009/full |
genre |
North Atlantic |
genre_facet |
North Atlantic |
op_source |
Frontiers in Marine Science volume 8 ISSN 2296-7745 |
op_rights |
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.3389/fmars.2021.663009 |
container_title |
Frontiers in Marine Science |
container_volume |
8 |
_version_ |
1795035152204693504 |