| Summary: | The southeastern Bering Sea shelf is an economically and ecologically important system that is subject to substantial natural and human-induced change (National Research Council, 1996). Despite this, long term observations are limited and fragmentary in time and space, which severely restricts our ability to identify the effects on the ecosystem due to climatic variability. During recent years, marked changes in the physical and biological environment ofBering Sea have occurred. The most comprehensive characterization ofthe changes in the physical environment has been based upon observations collected from biophysical moorings (Stabeno et aI., 1998 ~ 1999 ~ 2001). Since 1995 Stabeno and collaborators have been monitoring site M2, over the Bering Sea middle shelfnear 56°N, with funds provided by NOAA's Southeast Bering Sea Carrying Capacity (SEBSCC, Phases I, II, and III) and Fisheries Oceanography Coordinated Investigations (FOCI), measuring temperature, salinity, chlorophyll, current speed, and meteorological conditions. A time-series sediment trap has been deployed near that mooring since 1997. The composition of sinking organic material collected by the trap, along with a parallel time-series of zooplankton stable isotopic composition, has reflected changes in the pelagic food web during that period.
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