Decadal changes in climate and ecosystems in the North Atlantic Ocean and adjacent seas
Climate change is unambiguous and its effects are clearly detected in all functional units of the Earth system. This study presents new analyses of sea-surface temperature changes and show that climate change is affecting ecosystems of the North Atlantic. Changes are seen from phytoplankton to zoopl...
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ftplymouthml:oai:plymsea.ac.uk:5665 2023-05-15T15:48:04+02:00 Decadal changes in climate and ecosystems in the North Atlantic Ocean and adjacent seas Beaugrand, G 2009 http://plymsea.ac.uk/id/eprint/5665/ unknown Beaugrand, G. 2009 Decadal changes in climate and ecosystems in the North Atlantic Ocean and adjacent seas. Deep Sea Research Part II: Topical Studies in Oceanography, 56 (8-10). 656-673. Publication - Article PeerReviewed 2009 ftplymouthml 2022-09-13T05:48:23Z Climate change is unambiguous and its effects are clearly detected in all functional units of the Earth system. This study presents new analyses of sea-surface temperature changes and show that climate change is affecting ecosystems of the North Atlantic. Changes are seen from phytoplankton to zooplankton to fish and are modifying the dominance of species and the structure, the diversity and the functioning of marine ecosystems. Changes also range from phenological to biogeographical shifts and have involved in some regions of the Atlantic abrupt ecosystem shifts. These alterations reflect a response of pelagic ecosystems to a warmer temperature regime. Mechanisms are complex because they are nonlinear exhibiting tipping points and varying in space and time. Sensitivity of organisms to temperature changes is high, implicating that a small temperature modification can have sustained ecosystem effects. Implications of these changes for biogeochemical cycles are discussed. Two observed changes detected in the North Sea that could have opposite effects on carbon cycle are discussed. Increase in phytoplankton, as inferred from the phytoplankton colour index derived from the Continuous Plankton Recorder (CPR) survey, has been detected in the North Sea. This pattern has been accompanied by a reduction in the abundance of the herbivorous species Calanus finmarchicus. This might have reduced the grazing pressure and increase diatomaceous ‘fluff’, therefore carbon export in the North Sea. Therefore, it could be argued that the biological carbon pump might increase in this region with sea warming. In the meantime, however, the mean size of organisms (calanoid copepods) has dropped. Such changes have implications for the turnover time of biogenic carbon in plankton organisms and the mean residence time of particulate carbon they produce. The system characterising the warmer period is more based on recycling and less on export. The increase in the minimum turnover time indicates an increase in the ecosystem metabolism, which ... Article in Journal/Newspaper Calanus finmarchicus North Atlantic Copepods Plymouth Marine Science Electronic Archive (PlyMSEA - Plymouth Marine Laboratory, PML) |
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Plymouth Marine Science Electronic Archive (PlyMSEA - Plymouth Marine Laboratory, PML) |
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Climate change is unambiguous and its effects are clearly detected in all functional units of the Earth system. This study presents new analyses of sea-surface temperature changes and show that climate change is affecting ecosystems of the North Atlantic. Changes are seen from phytoplankton to zooplankton to fish and are modifying the dominance of species and the structure, the diversity and the functioning of marine ecosystems. Changes also range from phenological to biogeographical shifts and have involved in some regions of the Atlantic abrupt ecosystem shifts. These alterations reflect a response of pelagic ecosystems to a warmer temperature regime. Mechanisms are complex because they are nonlinear exhibiting tipping points and varying in space and time. Sensitivity of organisms to temperature changes is high, implicating that a small temperature modification can have sustained ecosystem effects. Implications of these changes for biogeochemical cycles are discussed. Two observed changes detected in the North Sea that could have opposite effects on carbon cycle are discussed. Increase in phytoplankton, as inferred from the phytoplankton colour index derived from the Continuous Plankton Recorder (CPR) survey, has been detected in the North Sea. This pattern has been accompanied by a reduction in the abundance of the herbivorous species Calanus finmarchicus. This might have reduced the grazing pressure and increase diatomaceous ‘fluff’, therefore carbon export in the North Sea. Therefore, it could be argued that the biological carbon pump might increase in this region with sea warming. In the meantime, however, the mean size of organisms (calanoid copepods) has dropped. Such changes have implications for the turnover time of biogenic carbon in plankton organisms and the mean residence time of particulate carbon they produce. The system characterising the warmer period is more based on recycling and less on export. The increase in the minimum turnover time indicates an increase in the ecosystem metabolism, which ... |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Beaugrand, G |
spellingShingle |
Beaugrand, G Decadal changes in climate and ecosystems in the North Atlantic Ocean and adjacent seas |
author_facet |
Beaugrand, G |
author_sort |
Beaugrand, G |
title |
Decadal changes in climate and ecosystems in the North Atlantic Ocean and adjacent seas |
title_short |
Decadal changes in climate and ecosystems in the North Atlantic Ocean and adjacent seas |
title_full |
Decadal changes in climate and ecosystems in the North Atlantic Ocean and adjacent seas |
title_fullStr |
Decadal changes in climate and ecosystems in the North Atlantic Ocean and adjacent seas |
title_full_unstemmed |
Decadal changes in climate and ecosystems in the North Atlantic Ocean and adjacent seas |
title_sort |
decadal changes in climate and ecosystems in the north atlantic ocean and adjacent seas |
publishDate |
2009 |
url |
http://plymsea.ac.uk/id/eprint/5665/ |
genre |
Calanus finmarchicus North Atlantic Copepods |
genre_facet |
Calanus finmarchicus North Atlantic Copepods |
op_relation |
Beaugrand, G. 2009 Decadal changes in climate and ecosystems in the North Atlantic Ocean and adjacent seas. Deep Sea Research Part II: Topical Studies in Oceanography, 56 (8-10). 656-673. |
_version_ |
1766383069636329472 |