Environmental response of upper trophic-level predators reveals a system change in an Antarctic marine ecosystem
Long-term changes in the physical environment in the Antarctic Peninsula region have significant potential for affecting populations of Antarctic krill (Euphausia superba), a keystone food web species. In order to investigate this, we analysed data on krill-eating predators at South Georgia from 198...
Published in: | Proceedings of the Royal Society of London. Series B: Biological Sciences |
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ftnerc:oai:nora.nerc.ac.uk:20212 2023-05-15T13:45:12+02:00 Environmental response of upper trophic-level predators reveals a system change in an Antarctic marine ecosystem Reid, K. Croxall, J.P. 2001 http://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/20212/ http://rspb.royalsocietypublishing.org/content/268/1465/377#related-urls unknown Royal Society Reid, K.; Croxall, J.P. 2001 Environmental response of upper trophic-level predators reveals a system change in an Antarctic marine ecosystem. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London, B, 268. 377-384. https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2000.1371 <https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2000.1371> Publication - Article PeerReviewed 2001 ftnerc https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2000.1371 2023-02-04T19:32:43Z Long-term changes in the physical environment in the Antarctic Peninsula region have significant potential for affecting populations of Antarctic krill (Euphausia superba), a keystone food web species. In order to investigate this, we analysed data on krill-eating predators at South Georgia from 1980 to 2000. Indices of population size and reproductive performance showed declines in all species and an increase in the frequency of years of low reproductive output. Changes in the population structure of krill and its relationship with reproductive performance suggested that the biomass of krill within the largest size class was sufficient to support predator demand in the 1980s but not in the 1990s. We suggest that the effects of underlying changes in the system on the krill population structure have been amplified by predatorinduced mortality, resulting in breeding predators now regularly operating close to the limit of krill availability. Understanding how krill demography is affected by changes in physical environmental factors and by predator consumption and how, in turn, this influences predator performance and survival, is one of the keys to predicting future change in Antarctic marine ecosystems. Article in Journal/Newspaper Antarc* Antarctic Antarctic Krill Antarctic Peninsula Euphausia superba Natural Environment Research Council: NERC Open Research Archive Antarctic The Antarctic Antarctic Peninsula Proceedings of the Royal Society of London. Series B: Biological Sciences 268 1465 377 384 |
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Open Polar |
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Natural Environment Research Council: NERC Open Research Archive |
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unknown |
description |
Long-term changes in the physical environment in the Antarctic Peninsula region have significant potential for affecting populations of Antarctic krill (Euphausia superba), a keystone food web species. In order to investigate this, we analysed data on krill-eating predators at South Georgia from 1980 to 2000. Indices of population size and reproductive performance showed declines in all species and an increase in the frequency of years of low reproductive output. Changes in the population structure of krill and its relationship with reproductive performance suggested that the biomass of krill within the largest size class was sufficient to support predator demand in the 1980s but not in the 1990s. We suggest that the effects of underlying changes in the system on the krill population structure have been amplified by predatorinduced mortality, resulting in breeding predators now regularly operating close to the limit of krill availability. Understanding how krill demography is affected by changes in physical environmental factors and by predator consumption and how, in turn, this influences predator performance and survival, is one of the keys to predicting future change in Antarctic marine ecosystems. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Reid, K. Croxall, J.P. |
spellingShingle |
Reid, K. Croxall, J.P. Environmental response of upper trophic-level predators reveals a system change in an Antarctic marine ecosystem |
author_facet |
Reid, K. Croxall, J.P. |
author_sort |
Reid, K. |
title |
Environmental response of upper trophic-level predators reveals a system change in an Antarctic marine ecosystem |
title_short |
Environmental response of upper trophic-level predators reveals a system change in an Antarctic marine ecosystem |
title_full |
Environmental response of upper trophic-level predators reveals a system change in an Antarctic marine ecosystem |
title_fullStr |
Environmental response of upper trophic-level predators reveals a system change in an Antarctic marine ecosystem |
title_full_unstemmed |
Environmental response of upper trophic-level predators reveals a system change in an Antarctic marine ecosystem |
title_sort |
environmental response of upper trophic-level predators reveals a system change in an antarctic marine ecosystem |
publisher |
Royal Society |
publishDate |
2001 |
url |
http://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/20212/ http://rspb.royalsocietypublishing.org/content/268/1465/377#related-urls |
geographic |
Antarctic The Antarctic Antarctic Peninsula |
geographic_facet |
Antarctic The Antarctic Antarctic Peninsula |
genre |
Antarc* Antarctic Antarctic Krill Antarctic Peninsula Euphausia superba |
genre_facet |
Antarc* Antarctic Antarctic Krill Antarctic Peninsula Euphausia superba |
op_relation |
Reid, K.; Croxall, J.P. 2001 Environmental response of upper trophic-level predators reveals a system change in an Antarctic marine ecosystem. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London, B, 268. 377-384. https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2000.1371 <https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2000.1371> |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2000.1371 |
container_title |
Proceedings of the Royal Society of London. Series B: Biological Sciences |
container_volume |
268 |
container_issue |
1465 |
container_start_page |
377 |
op_container_end_page |
384 |
_version_ |
1766217002598268928 |