Marine ecosystem assessment for the southern ocean: seabirds and marine mammals in a changing climate

• Published in: Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution
• Main Authors: Bestley, Sophie, Ropert‐coudert, Yan, Bengtson Nash, Susan, Brooks, Cassandra, Cotté, Cédric, Dewar, Meagan, Friedlaender, Ari S., Jackson, Jennifer A., Labrousse, Sara, Lowther, Andrew D., Mc Mahon, Clive Reginald, Phillips, Richard, O, Pistorius, Pierre A., Puskic, Peter S., Reis, Ana Olivia de A., Reisinger, Ryan Rudolf, Santos, Mercedes M., Tarszisz, Esther, Tixier, Paul, Trathan, Philip N., Wege, Mia, Wienecke, Barbara
• Other Authors: Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies Hobart (IMAS), University of Tasmania Hobart, Australia (UTAS), Centre d'Études Biologiques de Chizé - UMR 7372 (CEBC), La Rochelle Université (ULR)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Institut National de Recherche pour l’Agriculture, l’Alimentation et l’Environnement (INRAE), Environmental Futures Research Institute Australia, Environmental Studies Program USA (University of Colorado Boulder), University of Colorado Boulder, Processus et interactions de fine échelle océanique (PROTEO), Laboratoire d'Océanographie et du Climat : Expérimentations et Approches Numériques (LOCEAN), Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle (MNHN)-Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Sorbonne Université (SU)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Institut Pierre-Simon-Laplace (IPSL (FR_636)), École normale supérieure - Paris (ENS-PSL), Université Paris Sciences et Lettres (PSL)-Université Paris Sciences et Lettres (PSL)-Université de Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines (UVSQ)-Commissariat à l'énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives (CEA)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-École polytechnique (X)-Centre National d'Études Spatiales Toulouse (CNES)-Sorbonne Université (SU)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Université Paris Cité (UPCité)-École normale supérieure - Paris (ENS-PSL), Université Paris Sciences et Lettres (PSL)-Université Paris Sciences et Lettres (PSL)-Université de Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines (UVSQ)-Commissariat à l'énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives (CEA)-École polytechnique (X)-Centre National d'Études Spatiales Toulouse (CNES)-Sorbonne Université (SU)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Université Paris Cité (UPCité)-Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle (MNHN)-Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Sorbonne Université (SU)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Institut Pierre-Simon-Laplace (IPSL (FR_636)), Université Paris Sciences et Lettres (PSL)-Université Paris Sciences et Lettres (PSL)-Université de Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines (UVSQ)-Commissariat à l'énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives (CEA)-École polytechnique (X)-Centre National d'Études Spatiales Toulouse (CNES)-Sorbonne Université (SU)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Université Paris Cité (UPCité), School of Health and Life Sciences Churchill, VIC, Australia, Federation University Australia, Institute of Marine Sciences, Long Marine Laboratory, University of California Santa Cruz (UC Santa Cruz), University of California (UC)-University of California (UC), British Antarctic Survey (BAS), Natural Environment Research Council (NERC), Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI), Norwegian Polar Institute, Institute for Coastal and Marine Research and Department of Zoology South Africa, Nelson Mandela University Port Elizabeth, Federal University of the State of Rio de Janeiro, Institute of Marine Sciences, Departamento Biología de Predadores Tope Argentina, Argentine Antarctic Institute (IAA), University of Sydney Institute of Marine Science (USIMS), The University of Sydney, School of Life and Environmental Sciences Australia, Deakin University Burwood, Gateway Antarctica, University of Canterbury Christchurch, Australian Government, Department of the Environment and Energy
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: HAL CCSD 2020
• Subjects: marine ecosystem assessment; Marine predators; Climate Change; fisheries interactions; Conservation management; Antarctic; [SDE]Environmental Sciences; Antarc*; Southern Ocean
• Online Access: https://hal.science/hal-02974035; https://hal.science/hal-02974035/document; https://hal.science/hal-02974035/file/fevo-08-566936.pdf; https://doi.org/10.3389/fevo.2020.566936

International audience The massive number of seabirds (penguins and procellariiformes) and marine mammals (cetaceans and pinnipeds) - referred to here as top predators - is one of the most iconic components of the Antarctic and Southern Ocean. They play an important role as highly mobile consumers, structuring and connecting pelagic marine food webs and are widely studied relative to other taxa. Many birds and mammals establish dense breeding colonies or use haul-out sites, making them relatively easy to study. Cetaceans, however, spend their lives at sea and thus aspects of their life cycle are more complicated to monitor and study. Nevertheless, they all feed at sea and their reproductive success depends on the food availability in the marine environment, hence they are considered useful indicators of the state of the marine resources. In general, top predators have large body sizes that allow for instrumentation with miniature data-recording or transmitting devices to monitor their activities at sea. Development of scientific techniques to study reproduction and foraging of top predators has led to substantial scientific literature on their population trends, key biological parameters, migratory patterns, foraging and feeding ecology, and linkages with atmospheric or oceanographic dynamics, for a number of species and regions. We briefly summarize the vast literature on Southern Ocean top predators, focusing on the most recent syntheses. We also provide an overview on the key current and emerging pressures faced by these animals as a result of both natural and human causes. We recognize the overarching impact that environmental changes driven by climate change have on the ecology of these species. We also evaluate direct and indirect interactions between marine predators and other factors such as disease, pollution, land disturbance and the increasing pressure from global fisheries in the Southern Ocean. Where possible we consider the data availability for assessing the status and trends for each of these ...