Marine Ecosystems and Global Change

✍ Scribed by Manuel Barange, John G. Field, Roger P. Harris, Eileen E. Hofmann, R. Ian Perry, Francisco Werner

• Year: 2010
• Tongue: English
• Leaves: 453
• Category: Library

✦ Synopsis

Global environmental change (including climate change, biodiversity loss, changes in hydrological and biogeochemical cycles, and intensive exploitation of natural resources) is having significant impacts on the world's oceans. This handbook advances knowledge of the structure and functioning of marine ecosystems, and their past, present, and future responses to physical and anthropogenic forcing. It illustrates how climate and humans impact marine ecosystems, providing a comprehensive review of the physical and ecological processes that structure marine ecosystems as well as the observation, experimentation, and modelling approaches required for their study. Recognizing the interactive roles played by humans in using marine resources and in responding to global changes in marine systems, the book includes chapters on the human dimensions of marine ecosystem changes and on effective management approaches in this era of rapid change. A final section reviews the state of the art in predicting the responses of marine ecosystems to future global change scenarios with the intention of informing both future research agendas and marine management policy.Marine Ecosystems and Global Change provides a detailed synthesis of the work conducted under the auspices of the Global Ocean Ecosystems Dynamics (GLOBEC) program. This research spans two decades, and represents the largest, multi-disciplinary, international effort focused on understanding the impacts of external forcing on the structure and dynamics of global marine ecosystems.

✦ Table of Contents

Contents......Page 12
List of Boxes......Page 16
List of Abbreviations......Page 18
List of Contributors......Page 22
1.1 The integrated blue planet......Page 26
1.2 The oceans in an earth system......Page 27
1.4 Climate change and global change......Page 29
1.5 Marine ecosystem sustainability......Page 30
1.6 Objectives and structure of the book......Page 31
Part I: The changing ocean ecosystems......Page 34
2.2 Climate forcing, climate variability, and climate change......Page 36
2.3 Large-scale climate variability patterns......Page 37
2.5 Patterns of climate forcing on marine ecosystems......Page 42
2.6 Effects of climate on marine ecosystem processes......Page 44
2.7 Comparative studies of climate forcing on marine ecosystems......Page 54
2.9 Summary......Page 61
3.2 Human interaction with the natural world and evidence of impact on marine ecosystems......Page 66
3.3 Fisheries-induced changes......Page 73
3.4 Sensitivity of marine ecosystems......Page 88
3.5 Summary and conclusions......Page 95
Part II: Advances in understanding the structure and dynamics of marine ecosystems......Page 98
4.3 What are the justifications for the target species approach?......Page 100
4.4 The criteria that define target species......Page 101
4.5 Where has the target species approach worked to allow comparisons of species and ecosystems among regions?......Page 103
4.7 Outstanding questions about target species......Page 112
5.1 Introduction......Page 114
5.2 Processes affecting individuals......Page 119
5.3 Framing theories and hypotheses......Page 123
5.4 Modelling approaches used in GLOBEC studies......Page 129
5.5 Data assimilation, integration with field observation, and skill assessment......Page 142
5.6 Understanding recruitment: the role and challenges of modelling......Page 145
5.7 How has improved understanding of the physical environment improved ocean management?......Page 147
5.8 Directions for future work......Page 149
6.2 New approaches to the trophic complexity of marine ecosystems......Page 154
6.3 Sampling and observation systems......Page 163
6.4 Advances in shipboard, laboratory, and in situ process studies......Page 177
6.5 Zooplankton individual behaviours and population processes......Page 186
6.6 Methods applied to retrospective studies on past ecosystem states......Page 193
6.7 Future directions......Page 201
7.1 Introduction......Page 204
7.2 Ecological processes and food webs......Page 205
7.3 Marine ecosystem dynamics in relation to global change......Page 225
7.4 Advances in understanding marine ecosystems......Page 233
7.5 Conclusions and future directions......Page 242
Part III: The human dimensions of changes in marine ecosystems......Page 244
8.1 Human-marine ecosystem interactions: a social-ecological perspective......Page 246
8.2 Social-ecological systems: resilience, vulnerability, and adaptive capacity......Page 251
8.3 Communities of fish, and fishing communities: issues of scale and value......Page 253
8.4 Fisheries, food and economic security: vulnerability and response......Page 260
8.5 Governance......Page 264
8.6 Climate change and an uncertain future......Page 268
8.7 Conclusions......Page 275
9.1 How have resource management needs changed during the life of GLOBEC?......Page 278
9.2 How has ecosystem science been used to identify and address resource management needs?......Page 280
9.3 From ecosystem science to ecosystem-based management......Page 292
9.4 Communicating and increasing societal participation in ecosystem management......Page 302
9.5 Summary......Page 307
Part IV: A way forward......Page 310
10.1 Introduction......Page 312
10.2 Emergence of global changes in the ocean environments and projected future ocean conditions......Page 314
10.3 Ecosystem responses to global change......Page 320
10.4 The future and challenges......Page 338
10.5 Prognosis......Page 347
11.1 Introduction......Page 348
11.2 What has been learnt?......Page 349
11.3 Emerging scientific themes......Page 355
11.4 The future......Page 357
References......Page 362
E......Page 434
M......Page 435
S......Page 436
Z......Page 437