Paradigm lost, or is top-down forcing no longer significant in the Antarctic marine ecosystem?
Investigations in recent years of the ecological structure and processes of the Southern Ocean have almost exclusively taken a bottom-up, forcing-by-physical-processes approach relating various species' population trends to climate change. Just 20 years ago, however, researchers focused on a br...
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Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1017/S095410200700051X http://ecite.utas.edu.au/51665 |
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ftunivtasecite:oai:ecite.utas.edu.au:51665 2023-05-15T13:40:51+02:00 Paradigm lost, or is top-down forcing no longer significant in the Antarctic marine ecosystem? Ainley, D Ballard, G Ackley, S Blight, LK Eastman, JT Emslie, SD Lescroel, A Olmastroni, S Townsend, SE Tynan, CT Wilson, P Woehler, E 2007 https://doi.org/10.1017/S095410200700051X http://ecite.utas.edu.au/51665 en eng Cambridge University Press http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/S095410200700051X Ainley, D and Ballard, G and Ackley, S and Blight, LK and Eastman, JT and Emslie, SD and Lescroel, A and Olmastroni, S and Townsend, SE and Tynan, CT and Wilson, P and Woehler, E, Paradigm lost, or is top-down forcing no longer significant in the Antarctic marine ecosystem?, Antarctic Science, 19, (3) pp. 283-290. ISSN 0954-1020 (2007) [Refereed Article] http://ecite.utas.edu.au/51665 Biological Sciences Ecology Marine and Estuarine Ecology (incl. Marine Ichthyology) Refereed Article PeerReviewed 2007 ftunivtasecite https://doi.org/10.1017/S095410200700051X 2019-12-13T21:25:38Z Investigations in recent years of the ecological structure and processes of the Southern Ocean have almost exclusively taken a bottom-up, forcing-by-physical-processes approach relating various species' population trends to climate change. Just 20 years ago, however, researchers focused on a broader set of hypotheses, in part formed around a paradigm positing interspecific interactions as central to structuring the ecosystem (forcing by biotic processes, top-down), and particularly on a "krill surplus" caused by the removal from the system of more than a million baleen whales. Since then, this latter idea has disappeared from favour with little debate. Moreover, it recently has been shown that concurrent with whaling there was a massive depletion of finfish in the Southern Ocean, a finding also ignored in deference to climate-related explanations of ecosystem change. We present two examples from the literature, one involving gelatinous organisms and the other involving penguins, in which climate has been used to explain species' population trends but which could better be explained by including species interactions in the modelling. We conclude by questioning the almost complete shift in paradigms that has occurred and discuss whether it is leading Southern Ocean marine ecological science in an instructive direction. 2007 Antarctic Science Ltd. Article in Journal/Newspaper Antarc* Antarctic Antarctic Science baleen whales Southern Ocean eCite UTAS (University of Tasmania) Antarctic Southern Ocean The Antarctic Antarctic Science 19 3 283 290 |
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Open Polar |
collection |
eCite UTAS (University of Tasmania) |
op_collection_id |
ftunivtasecite |
language |
English |
topic |
Biological Sciences Ecology Marine and Estuarine Ecology (incl. Marine Ichthyology) |
spellingShingle |
Biological Sciences Ecology Marine and Estuarine Ecology (incl. Marine Ichthyology) Ainley, D Ballard, G Ackley, S Blight, LK Eastman, JT Emslie, SD Lescroel, A Olmastroni, S Townsend, SE Tynan, CT Wilson, P Woehler, E Paradigm lost, or is top-down forcing no longer significant in the Antarctic marine ecosystem? |
topic_facet |
Biological Sciences Ecology Marine and Estuarine Ecology (incl. Marine Ichthyology) |
description |
Investigations in recent years of the ecological structure and processes of the Southern Ocean have almost exclusively taken a bottom-up, forcing-by-physical-processes approach relating various species' population trends to climate change. Just 20 years ago, however, researchers focused on a broader set of hypotheses, in part formed around a paradigm positing interspecific interactions as central to structuring the ecosystem (forcing by biotic processes, top-down), and particularly on a "krill surplus" caused by the removal from the system of more than a million baleen whales. Since then, this latter idea has disappeared from favour with little debate. Moreover, it recently has been shown that concurrent with whaling there was a massive depletion of finfish in the Southern Ocean, a finding also ignored in deference to climate-related explanations of ecosystem change. We present two examples from the literature, one involving gelatinous organisms and the other involving penguins, in which climate has been used to explain species' population trends but which could better be explained by including species interactions in the modelling. We conclude by questioning the almost complete shift in paradigms that has occurred and discuss whether it is leading Southern Ocean marine ecological science in an instructive direction. 2007 Antarctic Science Ltd. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Ainley, D Ballard, G Ackley, S Blight, LK Eastman, JT Emslie, SD Lescroel, A Olmastroni, S Townsend, SE Tynan, CT Wilson, P Woehler, E |
author_facet |
Ainley, D Ballard, G Ackley, S Blight, LK Eastman, JT Emslie, SD Lescroel, A Olmastroni, S Townsend, SE Tynan, CT Wilson, P Woehler, E |
author_sort |
Ainley, D |
title |
Paradigm lost, or is top-down forcing no longer significant in the Antarctic marine ecosystem? |
title_short |
Paradigm lost, or is top-down forcing no longer significant in the Antarctic marine ecosystem? |
title_full |
Paradigm lost, or is top-down forcing no longer significant in the Antarctic marine ecosystem? |
title_fullStr |
Paradigm lost, or is top-down forcing no longer significant in the Antarctic marine ecosystem? |
title_full_unstemmed |
Paradigm lost, or is top-down forcing no longer significant in the Antarctic marine ecosystem? |
title_sort |
paradigm lost, or is top-down forcing no longer significant in the antarctic marine ecosystem? |
publisher |
Cambridge University Press |
publishDate |
2007 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.1017/S095410200700051X http://ecite.utas.edu.au/51665 |
geographic |
Antarctic Southern Ocean The Antarctic |
geographic_facet |
Antarctic Southern Ocean The Antarctic |
genre |
Antarc* Antarctic Antarctic Science baleen whales Southern Ocean |
genre_facet |
Antarc* Antarctic Antarctic Science baleen whales Southern Ocean |
op_relation |
http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/S095410200700051X Ainley, D and Ballard, G and Ackley, S and Blight, LK and Eastman, JT and Emslie, SD and Lescroel, A and Olmastroni, S and Townsend, SE and Tynan, CT and Wilson, P and Woehler, E, Paradigm lost, or is top-down forcing no longer significant in the Antarctic marine ecosystem?, Antarctic Science, 19, (3) pp. 283-290. ISSN 0954-1020 (2007) [Refereed Article] http://ecite.utas.edu.au/51665 |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1017/S095410200700051X |
container_title |
Antarctic Science |
container_volume |
19 |
container_issue |
3 |
container_start_page |
283 |
op_container_end_page |
290 |
_version_ |
1766141504042041344 |