Influence of Climate Change and Trophic Coupling across Four Trophic Levels in the Celtic Sea
Climate change has had profound effects upon marine ecosystems, impacting across all trophic levels from plankton to apex predators. Determining the impacts of climate change on marine ecosystems requires understanding the direct effects on all trophic levels as well as indirect effects mediated by...
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Online Access: | http://hdl.handle.net/10026.1/9148 https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0047408 |
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ftunivplympearl:oai:pearl.plymouth.ac.uk:10026.1/9148 2024-05-19T07:38:26+00:00 Influence of Climate Change and Trophic Coupling across Four Trophic Levels in the Celtic Sea Lauria, V Attrill, MJ Pinnegar, JK Brown, A Edwards, M Votier, SC 2012 e47408-e47408 Print-Electronic application/pdf http://hdl.handle.net/10026.1/9148 https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0047408 en eng eng Public Library of Science (PLoS) United States ISSN:1932-6203 E-ISSN:1932-6203 1932-6203 ARTN e47408 http://hdl.handle.net/10026.1/9148 doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0047408 Not known Animals Atlantic Ocean Birds Climate Climate Change Ecosystem Fishes Food Chain Phytoplankton Population Dynamics Zooplankton journal-article Article 2012 ftunivplympearl https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0047408 2024-05-01T00:05:12Z Climate change has had profound effects upon marine ecosystems, impacting across all trophic levels from plankton to apex predators. Determining the impacts of climate change on marine ecosystems requires understanding the direct effects on all trophic levels as well as indirect effects mediated by trophic coupling. The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of climate change on the pelagic food web in the Celtic Sea, a productive shelf region in the Northeast Atlantic. Using long-term data, we examined possible direct and indirect 'bottom-up' climate effects across four trophic levels: phytoplankton, zooplankton, mid-trophic level fish and seabirds. During the period 1986-2007, although there was no temporal trend in the North Atlantic Oscillation index (NAO), the decadal mean Sea Surface Temperature (SST) in the Celtic Sea increased by 0.66 ± 0.02 °C. Despite this, there was only a weak signal of climate change in the Celtic Sea food web. Changes in plankton community structure were found, however this was not related to SST or NAO. A negative relationship occurred between herring abundance (0- and 1-group) and spring SST (0-group: p = 0.02, slope = -0.305 ± 0.125; 1-group: p = 0.04, slope = -0.410 ± 0.193). Seabird demographics showed complex species-specific responses. There was evidence of direct effects of spring NAO (on black-legged kittiwake population growth rate: p = 0.03, slope = 0.0314 ± 0.014) as well as indirect bottom-up effects of lagged spring SST (on razorbill breeding success: p = 0.01, slope = -0.144 ± 0.05). Negative relationships between breeding success and population growth rate of razorbills and common guillemots may be explained by interactions between mid-trophic level fish. Our findings show that the impacts of climate change on the Celtic Sea ecosystem is not as marked as in nearby regions (e.g. the North Sea), emphasizing the need for more research at regional scales. Article in Journal/Newspaper Black-legged Kittiwake North Atlantic North Atlantic oscillation Northeast Atlantic Razorbill PEARL (Plymouth Electronic Archiv & ResearchLibrary, Plymouth University) PLoS ONE 7 10 e47408 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
PEARL (Plymouth Electronic Archiv & ResearchLibrary, Plymouth University) |
op_collection_id |
ftunivplympearl |
language |
English |
topic |
Animals Atlantic Ocean Birds Climate Climate Change Ecosystem Fishes Food Chain Phytoplankton Population Dynamics Zooplankton |
spellingShingle |
Animals Atlantic Ocean Birds Climate Climate Change Ecosystem Fishes Food Chain Phytoplankton Population Dynamics Zooplankton Lauria, V Attrill, MJ Pinnegar, JK Brown, A Edwards, M Votier, SC Influence of Climate Change and Trophic Coupling across Four Trophic Levels in the Celtic Sea |
topic_facet |
Animals Atlantic Ocean Birds Climate Climate Change Ecosystem Fishes Food Chain Phytoplankton Population Dynamics Zooplankton |
description |
Climate change has had profound effects upon marine ecosystems, impacting across all trophic levels from plankton to apex predators. Determining the impacts of climate change on marine ecosystems requires understanding the direct effects on all trophic levels as well as indirect effects mediated by trophic coupling. The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of climate change on the pelagic food web in the Celtic Sea, a productive shelf region in the Northeast Atlantic. Using long-term data, we examined possible direct and indirect 'bottom-up' climate effects across four trophic levels: phytoplankton, zooplankton, mid-trophic level fish and seabirds. During the period 1986-2007, although there was no temporal trend in the North Atlantic Oscillation index (NAO), the decadal mean Sea Surface Temperature (SST) in the Celtic Sea increased by 0.66 ± 0.02 °C. Despite this, there was only a weak signal of climate change in the Celtic Sea food web. Changes in plankton community structure were found, however this was not related to SST or NAO. A negative relationship occurred between herring abundance (0- and 1-group) and spring SST (0-group: p = 0.02, slope = -0.305 ± 0.125; 1-group: p = 0.04, slope = -0.410 ± 0.193). Seabird demographics showed complex species-specific responses. There was evidence of direct effects of spring NAO (on black-legged kittiwake population growth rate: p = 0.03, slope = 0.0314 ± 0.014) as well as indirect bottom-up effects of lagged spring SST (on razorbill breeding success: p = 0.01, slope = -0.144 ± 0.05). Negative relationships between breeding success and population growth rate of razorbills and common guillemots may be explained by interactions between mid-trophic level fish. Our findings show that the impacts of climate change on the Celtic Sea ecosystem is not as marked as in nearby regions (e.g. the North Sea), emphasizing the need for more research at regional scales. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Lauria, V Attrill, MJ Pinnegar, JK Brown, A Edwards, M Votier, SC |
author_facet |
Lauria, V Attrill, MJ Pinnegar, JK Brown, A Edwards, M Votier, SC |
author_sort |
Lauria, V |
title |
Influence of Climate Change and Trophic Coupling across Four Trophic Levels in the Celtic Sea |
title_short |
Influence of Climate Change and Trophic Coupling across Four Trophic Levels in the Celtic Sea |
title_full |
Influence of Climate Change and Trophic Coupling across Four Trophic Levels in the Celtic Sea |
title_fullStr |
Influence of Climate Change and Trophic Coupling across Four Trophic Levels in the Celtic Sea |
title_full_unstemmed |
Influence of Climate Change and Trophic Coupling across Four Trophic Levels in the Celtic Sea |
title_sort |
influence of climate change and trophic coupling across four trophic levels in the celtic sea |
publisher |
Public Library of Science (PLoS) |
publishDate |
2012 |
url |
http://hdl.handle.net/10026.1/9148 https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0047408 |
genre |
Black-legged Kittiwake North Atlantic North Atlantic oscillation Northeast Atlantic Razorbill |
genre_facet |
Black-legged Kittiwake North Atlantic North Atlantic oscillation Northeast Atlantic Razorbill |
op_relation |
ISSN:1932-6203 E-ISSN:1932-6203 1932-6203 ARTN e47408 http://hdl.handle.net/10026.1/9148 doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0047408 |
op_rights |
Not known |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0047408 |
container_title |
PLoS ONE |
container_volume |
7 |
container_issue |
10 |
container_start_page |
e47408 |
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1799477879807934464 |