Critical indirect effects of climate change on sub-Antarctic ecosystem functioning
Sub-Antarctic islands represent critical breeding habitats for land-based top predators that dominate Southern Ocean food webs. Reproduction and molting incur high energetic demands that are sustained at the sub-Antarctic Prince Edward Islands (PEIs) by both inshore (phytoplankton blooms; “island ma...
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ftpubmed:oai:pubmedcentral.nih.gov:3790546 2023-05-15T13:42:47+02:00 Critical indirect effects of climate change on sub-Antarctic ecosystem functioning Louise Allan, E William Froneman, P Durgadoo, Jonathan V McQuaid, Christopher D Ansorge, Isabelle J Richoux, Nicole B 2013-09 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3790546 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24101989 https://doi.org/10.1002/ece3.678 en eng Blackwell Publishing Ltd http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3790546 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24101989 http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/ece3.678 © 2013 The Authors. Ecology and Evolution published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.5/ Re-use of this article is permitted in accordance with the Creative Commons Deed, Attribution 2.5, which does not permit commercial exploitation. CC-BY Original Research Text 2013 ftpubmed https://doi.org/10.1002/ece3.678 2013-10-13T00:28:01Z Sub-Antarctic islands represent critical breeding habitats for land-based top predators that dominate Southern Ocean food webs. Reproduction and molting incur high energetic demands that are sustained at the sub-Antarctic Prince Edward Islands (PEIs) by both inshore (phytoplankton blooms; “island mass effect”; autochthonous) and offshore (allochthonous) productivity. As the relative contributions of these sustenance pathways are, in turn, affected by oceanographic conditions around the PEIs, we address the consequences of climatically driven changes in the physical environment on this island ecosystem. We show that there has been a measurable long-term shift in the carbon isotope signatures of the benthos inhabiting the shallow shelf region of the PEIs, most likely reflecting a long-term decline in enhanced phytoplankton productivity at the islands in response to a climate-driven shift in the position of the sub-Antarctic Front. Our results indicate that regional climate change has affected the balance between allochthonous and autochthonous productivity at the PEIs. Over the last three decades, inshore-feeding top predators at the islands have shown a marked decrease in their population sizes. Conversely, population sizes of offshore-feeding predators that forage over great distances from the islands have remained stable or increased, with one exception. Population decline of predators that rely heavily on organisms inhabiting the inshore region strongly suggest changes in prey availability, which are likely driven by factors such as fisheries impacts on some prey populations and shifts in competitive interactions among predators. In addition to these local factors, our analysis indicates that changes in prey availability may also result indirectly through regional climate change effects on the islands' marine ecosystem. Most importantly, our results indicate that a fundamental shift in the balance between allochthonous and autochthonous trophic pathways within this island ecosystem may be detected throughout ... Text Antarc* Antarctic Prince Edward Islands Southern Ocean PubMed Central (PMC) Antarctic Southern Ocean Ecology and Evolution 3 9 2994 3004 |
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Original Research |
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Original Research Louise Allan, E William Froneman, P Durgadoo, Jonathan V McQuaid, Christopher D Ansorge, Isabelle J Richoux, Nicole B Critical indirect effects of climate change on sub-Antarctic ecosystem functioning |
topic_facet |
Original Research |
description |
Sub-Antarctic islands represent critical breeding habitats for land-based top predators that dominate Southern Ocean food webs. Reproduction and molting incur high energetic demands that are sustained at the sub-Antarctic Prince Edward Islands (PEIs) by both inshore (phytoplankton blooms; “island mass effect”; autochthonous) and offshore (allochthonous) productivity. As the relative contributions of these sustenance pathways are, in turn, affected by oceanographic conditions around the PEIs, we address the consequences of climatically driven changes in the physical environment on this island ecosystem. We show that there has been a measurable long-term shift in the carbon isotope signatures of the benthos inhabiting the shallow shelf region of the PEIs, most likely reflecting a long-term decline in enhanced phytoplankton productivity at the islands in response to a climate-driven shift in the position of the sub-Antarctic Front. Our results indicate that regional climate change has affected the balance between allochthonous and autochthonous productivity at the PEIs. Over the last three decades, inshore-feeding top predators at the islands have shown a marked decrease in their population sizes. Conversely, population sizes of offshore-feeding predators that forage over great distances from the islands have remained stable or increased, with one exception. Population decline of predators that rely heavily on organisms inhabiting the inshore region strongly suggest changes in prey availability, which are likely driven by factors such as fisheries impacts on some prey populations and shifts in competitive interactions among predators. In addition to these local factors, our analysis indicates that changes in prey availability may also result indirectly through regional climate change effects on the islands' marine ecosystem. Most importantly, our results indicate that a fundamental shift in the balance between allochthonous and autochthonous trophic pathways within this island ecosystem may be detected throughout ... |
format |
Text |
author |
Louise Allan, E William Froneman, P Durgadoo, Jonathan V McQuaid, Christopher D Ansorge, Isabelle J Richoux, Nicole B |
author_facet |
Louise Allan, E William Froneman, P Durgadoo, Jonathan V McQuaid, Christopher D Ansorge, Isabelle J Richoux, Nicole B |
author_sort |
Louise Allan, E |
title |
Critical indirect effects of climate change on sub-Antarctic ecosystem functioning |
title_short |
Critical indirect effects of climate change on sub-Antarctic ecosystem functioning |
title_full |
Critical indirect effects of climate change on sub-Antarctic ecosystem functioning |
title_fullStr |
Critical indirect effects of climate change on sub-Antarctic ecosystem functioning |
title_full_unstemmed |
Critical indirect effects of climate change on sub-Antarctic ecosystem functioning |
title_sort |
critical indirect effects of climate change on sub-antarctic ecosystem functioning |
publisher |
Blackwell Publishing Ltd |
publishDate |
2013 |
url |
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3790546 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24101989 https://doi.org/10.1002/ece3.678 |
geographic |
Antarctic Southern Ocean |
geographic_facet |
Antarctic Southern Ocean |
genre |
Antarc* Antarctic Prince Edward Islands Southern Ocean |
genre_facet |
Antarc* Antarctic Prince Edward Islands Southern Ocean |
op_relation |
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3790546 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24101989 http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/ece3.678 |
op_rights |
© 2013 The Authors. Ecology and Evolution published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.5/ Re-use of this article is permitted in accordance with the Creative Commons Deed, Attribution 2.5, which does not permit commercial exploitation. |
op_rightsnorm |
CC-BY |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1002/ece3.678 |
container_title |
Ecology and Evolution |
container_volume |
3 |
container_issue |
9 |
container_start_page |
2994 |
op_container_end_page |
3004 |
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1766172761184534528 |