Status and trends in the structure of Arctic benthic food webs
On-going climate warming is causing a dramatic loss of sea-ice in the Arctic Ocean and it is projected that the Arctic Ocean will become seasonally ice-free by 2040. Many studies of local Arctic food webs now exist and with this review paper we aim to synthesize these into a large-scale assessment o...
Published in: | Polar Research |
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Main Authors: | , , , , , , , , , , , , , |
Format: | Article in Journal/Newspaper |
Language: | unknown |
Published: |
Co-Action Publishing
2015
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Subjects: | |
Online Access: | https://epic.awi.de/id/eprint/37712/ https://epic.awi.de/id/eprint/37712/6/Kedra_et_al_2015.pdf http://www.polarresearch.net/index.php/polar/article/view/23775 https://hdl.handle.net/10013/epic.45629 https://hdl.handle.net/10013/epic.45629.d006 |
Summary: | On-going climate warming is causing a dramatic loss of sea-ice in the Arctic Ocean and it is projected that the Arctic Ocean will become seasonally ice-free by 2040. Many studies of local Arctic food webs now exist and with this review paper we aim to synthesize these into a large-scale assessment of the current status of knowledge on the structure of various Arctic marine food webs, and their response to climate change, and to sea-ice retreat in particular. Key drivers of ecosystem change and potential consequences for ecosystem functioning and Arctic marine food webs are identified along the sea-ice gradient with special emphasis on the following regions: seasonally ice free Barents and Chukchi Seas, loose ice pack zone of the Polar Front (PF) and Marginal Ice Zone (MIZ), and permanently sea-ice covered high Arctic. Finally, we identify gaps existing in the knowledge of different Arctic marine food webs and provide recommendations for future studies. |
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