Status and trends in the structure of Arctic benthic food webs

• Published in: Polar Research
• Main Authors: Kêdra, Monika, Moritz, Charlotte, Choy, Emily S., David, Carmen, Degen, Renate, Duerksen, Steven, Ellingsen, Ingrid, Gorska, Barbara, Grebmeier, Jacqueline M., Kirievskaya, Dubrava, van Oevelen, Dick, Piwosz, Kasia, Samuelsen, Annette, Weslawski, Jan Marcin
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: unknown
• Published: Co-Action Publishing 2015
• Subjects: Arctic; Arctic Ocean; Chukchi; Climate change; ice pack; Polar Research; Sea ice
• 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

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.