The impact of whaling on the ocean carbon cycle: why bigger was better
Background: Humans have reduced the abundance of many large marine vertebrates, including whales, large fish, and sharks, to only a small percentage of their pre-exploitation levels. Industrial fishing and whaling also tended to preferentially harvest the largest species and largest individuals with...
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ftciteseerx:oai:CiteSeerX.psu:10.1.1.350.7698 2023-05-15T15:37:07+02:00 The impact of whaling on the ocean carbon cycle: why bigger was better Andrew J. Pershing Line B. Christensen Nicholas R. Record Graham D. Sherwood Peter B The Pennsylvania State University CiteSeerX Archives 2010 application/zip http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.350.7698 en eng http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.350.7698 Metadata may be used without restrictions as long as the oai identifier remains attached to it. ftp://ftp.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pub/pmc/86/75/PLoS_One_2010_Aug_26_5(8)_e12444.tar.gz Better. PLoS ONE 5(8 e12444. doi 10.1371/journal.pone.0012444 text 2010 ftciteseerx 2016-01-08T00:20:26Z Background: Humans have reduced the abundance of many large marine vertebrates, including whales, large fish, and sharks, to only a small percentage of their pre-exploitation levels. Industrial fishing and whaling also tended to preferentially harvest the largest species and largest individuals within a population. We consider the consequences of removing these animals on the ocean’s ability to store carbon. Methodology/Principal Findings: Because body size is critical to our arguments, our analysis focuses on populations of baleen whales. Using reconstructions of pre-whaling and modern abundances, we consider the impact of whaling on the amount of carbon stored in living whales and on the amount of carbon exported to the deep sea by sinking whale carcasses. Populations of large baleen whales now store 9.1610 6 tons less carbon than before whaling. Some of the lost storage has been offset by increases in smaller competitors; however, due to the relative metabolic efficiency of larger organisms, a shift toward smaller animals could decrease the total community biomass by 30 % or more. Because of their large size and few predators, whales and other large marine vertebrates can efficiently export carbon from the surface waters to the deep sea. We estimate that rebuilding whale populations would remove 1.6610 5 tons of carbon each year through sinking whale carcasses. Conclusions/Significance: Even though fish and whales are only a small portion of the ocean’s overall biomass, fishing and whaling have altered the ocean’s ability to store and sequester carbon. Although these changes are small relative to the Text baleen whales Unknown |
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Better. PLoS ONE 5(8 e12444. doi 10.1371/journal.pone.0012444 |
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Better. PLoS ONE 5(8 e12444. doi 10.1371/journal.pone.0012444 Andrew J. Pershing Line B. Christensen Nicholas R. Record Graham D. Sherwood Peter B The impact of whaling on the ocean carbon cycle: why bigger was better |
topic_facet |
Better. PLoS ONE 5(8 e12444. doi 10.1371/journal.pone.0012444 |
description |
Background: Humans have reduced the abundance of many large marine vertebrates, including whales, large fish, and sharks, to only a small percentage of their pre-exploitation levels. Industrial fishing and whaling also tended to preferentially harvest the largest species and largest individuals within a population. We consider the consequences of removing these animals on the ocean’s ability to store carbon. Methodology/Principal Findings: Because body size is critical to our arguments, our analysis focuses on populations of baleen whales. Using reconstructions of pre-whaling and modern abundances, we consider the impact of whaling on the amount of carbon stored in living whales and on the amount of carbon exported to the deep sea by sinking whale carcasses. Populations of large baleen whales now store 9.1610 6 tons less carbon than before whaling. Some of the lost storage has been offset by increases in smaller competitors; however, due to the relative metabolic efficiency of larger organisms, a shift toward smaller animals could decrease the total community biomass by 30 % or more. Because of their large size and few predators, whales and other large marine vertebrates can efficiently export carbon from the surface waters to the deep sea. We estimate that rebuilding whale populations would remove 1.6610 5 tons of carbon each year through sinking whale carcasses. Conclusions/Significance: Even though fish and whales are only a small portion of the ocean’s overall biomass, fishing and whaling have altered the ocean’s ability to store and sequester carbon. Although these changes are small relative to the |
author2 |
The Pennsylvania State University CiteSeerX Archives |
format |
Text |
author |
Andrew J. Pershing Line B. Christensen Nicholas R. Record Graham D. Sherwood Peter B |
author_facet |
Andrew J. Pershing Line B. Christensen Nicholas R. Record Graham D. Sherwood Peter B |
author_sort |
Andrew J. Pershing |
title |
The impact of whaling on the ocean carbon cycle: why bigger was better |
title_short |
The impact of whaling on the ocean carbon cycle: why bigger was better |
title_full |
The impact of whaling on the ocean carbon cycle: why bigger was better |
title_fullStr |
The impact of whaling on the ocean carbon cycle: why bigger was better |
title_full_unstemmed |
The impact of whaling on the ocean carbon cycle: why bigger was better |
title_sort |
impact of whaling on the ocean carbon cycle: why bigger was better |
publishDate |
2010 |
url |
http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.350.7698 |
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baleen whales |
genre_facet |
baleen whales |
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ftp://ftp.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pub/pmc/86/75/PLoS_One_2010_Aug_26_5(8)_e12444.tar.gz |
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http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.350.7698 |
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Metadata may be used without restrictions as long as the oai identifier remains attached to it. |
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