Assessing status and trends of open ocean habitats: a regionally resolved approach and Southern Ocean application
Assessing the status and trends of habitats, species, and ecosystems in the vast, remote, and difficult to observe open oceans is a pressing challenge for conserving and managing marine species and ecosystems under a changing climate. Here, we present a framework for assessing the status and trends...
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Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolind.2019.105616 http://ecite.utas.edu.au/137526 |
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ftunivtasecite:oai:ecite.utas.edu.au:137526 2023-05-15T13:55:18+02:00 Assessing status and trends of open ocean habitats: a regionally resolved approach and Southern Ocean application Trebilco, R Melbourne-Thomas, J Sumner, M Wotherspoon, S Constable, A 2019 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolind.2019.105616 http://ecite.utas.edu.au/137526 en eng Elsevier Science Bv http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolind.2019.105616 Trebilco, R and Melbourne-Thomas, J and Sumner, M and Wotherspoon, S and Constable, A, Assessing status and trends of open ocean habitats: a regionally resolved approach and Southern Ocean application, Ecological Indicators, 107 Article 105616. ISSN 1470-160X (2019) [Refereed Article] http://ecite.utas.edu.au/137526 Environmental Sciences Ecological Applications Ecological Impacts of Climate Change Refereed Article PeerReviewed 2019 ftunivtasecite https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolind.2019.105616 2020-04-20T22:16:15Z Assessing the status and trends of habitats, species, and ecosystems in the vast, remote, and difficult to observe open oceans is a pressing challenge for conserving and managing marine species and ecosystems under a changing climate. Here, we present a framework for assessing the status and trends of key ocean habitat components using synoptic data sources. It aims to quantify ecosystem variability and long-term change, and to provide summaries and indicators of change at scales that are both ecologically meaningful and relevant for management. We illustrate our approach using the Southern Ocean as a case-study and assess habitat based on remotely-sensed sea ice concentration, sea surface temperature (SST) and chlorophyll- a . We use Antarctic krill Euphausia superba as an illustrative example of how thresholds and optimum ranges for key taxa (and the ranges they define) can be used to delimit areas that are likely to constitute good habitat. Availability of good habitat, in terms of area, provides a simple indicator for quantifying change through time, and for assessing regional differences. Our assessment of sea ice reveals that the absence of a strong trend in the mean annual duration of sea ice cover around Antarctica masks a loss of areas with the longest periods of cover. In the polar latitudinal zone of the East Pacific, the area with the longest ice coverage has declined by 123,533 km 2 over the past four decades. Our assessment of chlorophyll- a and SST highlights that the area of good habitat for krill has increased in the high-latitude zone, but decreased in the polar zone close to the continent in all sectors other than the East Pacific, where the reverse has been true. These examples demonstrate how our general approach can visualise and identify (i) known trends in mean values but also diagnose where changes in the habitat area over time may not match the mean trend; (ii) key habitat thresholds across a range of variables and in different seasons; and (iii) changes in the degree of spatial overlap of areas with desirable ranges for different habitat components. Our approach provides a versatile method to generate summaries of status and trends of ocean habitats at scales meaningful to decision makers. It can readily be adapted to other habitat variables and for other areas, supporting ongoing efforts to assess status and trends of open ocean habitats worldwide. Article in Journal/Newspaper Antarc* Antarctic Antarctic Krill Antarctica Euphausia superba Sea ice Southern Ocean eCite UTAS (University of Tasmania) Antarctic Southern Ocean Pacific Ecological Indicators 107 105616 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
eCite UTAS (University of Tasmania) |
op_collection_id |
ftunivtasecite |
language |
English |
topic |
Environmental Sciences Ecological Applications Ecological Impacts of Climate Change |
spellingShingle |
Environmental Sciences Ecological Applications Ecological Impacts of Climate Change Trebilco, R Melbourne-Thomas, J Sumner, M Wotherspoon, S Constable, A Assessing status and trends of open ocean habitats: a regionally resolved approach and Southern Ocean application |
topic_facet |
Environmental Sciences Ecological Applications Ecological Impacts of Climate Change |
description |
Assessing the status and trends of habitats, species, and ecosystems in the vast, remote, and difficult to observe open oceans is a pressing challenge for conserving and managing marine species and ecosystems under a changing climate. Here, we present a framework for assessing the status and trends of key ocean habitat components using synoptic data sources. It aims to quantify ecosystem variability and long-term change, and to provide summaries and indicators of change at scales that are both ecologically meaningful and relevant for management. We illustrate our approach using the Southern Ocean as a case-study and assess habitat based on remotely-sensed sea ice concentration, sea surface temperature (SST) and chlorophyll- a . We use Antarctic krill Euphausia superba as an illustrative example of how thresholds and optimum ranges for key taxa (and the ranges they define) can be used to delimit areas that are likely to constitute good habitat. Availability of good habitat, in terms of area, provides a simple indicator for quantifying change through time, and for assessing regional differences. Our assessment of sea ice reveals that the absence of a strong trend in the mean annual duration of sea ice cover around Antarctica masks a loss of areas with the longest periods of cover. In the polar latitudinal zone of the East Pacific, the area with the longest ice coverage has declined by 123,533 km 2 over the past four decades. Our assessment of chlorophyll- a and SST highlights that the area of good habitat for krill has increased in the high-latitude zone, but decreased in the polar zone close to the continent in all sectors other than the East Pacific, where the reverse has been true. These examples demonstrate how our general approach can visualise and identify (i) known trends in mean values but also diagnose where changes in the habitat area over time may not match the mean trend; (ii) key habitat thresholds across a range of variables and in different seasons; and (iii) changes in the degree of spatial overlap of areas with desirable ranges for different habitat components. Our approach provides a versatile method to generate summaries of status and trends of ocean habitats at scales meaningful to decision makers. It can readily be adapted to other habitat variables and for other areas, supporting ongoing efforts to assess status and trends of open ocean habitats worldwide. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Trebilco, R Melbourne-Thomas, J Sumner, M Wotherspoon, S Constable, A |
author_facet |
Trebilco, R Melbourne-Thomas, J Sumner, M Wotherspoon, S Constable, A |
author_sort |
Trebilco, R |
title |
Assessing status and trends of open ocean habitats: a regionally resolved approach and Southern Ocean application |
title_short |
Assessing status and trends of open ocean habitats: a regionally resolved approach and Southern Ocean application |
title_full |
Assessing status and trends of open ocean habitats: a regionally resolved approach and Southern Ocean application |
title_fullStr |
Assessing status and trends of open ocean habitats: a regionally resolved approach and Southern Ocean application |
title_full_unstemmed |
Assessing status and trends of open ocean habitats: a regionally resolved approach and Southern Ocean application |
title_sort |
assessing status and trends of open ocean habitats: a regionally resolved approach and southern ocean application |
publisher |
Elsevier Science Bv |
publishDate |
2019 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolind.2019.105616 http://ecite.utas.edu.au/137526 |
geographic |
Antarctic Southern Ocean Pacific |
geographic_facet |
Antarctic Southern Ocean Pacific |
genre |
Antarc* Antarctic Antarctic Krill Antarctica Euphausia superba Sea ice Southern Ocean |
genre_facet |
Antarc* Antarctic Antarctic Krill Antarctica Euphausia superba Sea ice Southern Ocean |
op_relation |
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolind.2019.105616 Trebilco, R and Melbourne-Thomas, J and Sumner, M and Wotherspoon, S and Constable, A, Assessing status and trends of open ocean habitats: a regionally resolved approach and Southern Ocean application, Ecological Indicators, 107 Article 105616. ISSN 1470-160X (2019) [Refereed Article] http://ecite.utas.edu.au/137526 |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolind.2019.105616 |
container_title |
Ecological Indicators |
container_volume |
107 |
container_start_page |
105616 |
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1766261720716673024 |