Unanticipated biological changes and global warming

Evidence of global warming is now unequivocal, and studies suggest that it has started to influence natural systems of the planet, including the oceans. However, in the marine environment, it is well-known that species and ecosystems can also be influenced by natural sources of large-scale hydro-climatological variability. The North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) was negatively correlated with the mean abundance of one of the subarctic key species Calanus finmarchicus in the North Sea. This correlation was thought to have broken down in 1996, however, the timing has never been tested statistically. The present study revisits this unanticipated change and reveals that the correlation did not break down in 1996 as originally proposed but earlier, at the time of an abrupt ecosystem shift in the North Sea in the 1980s. Furthermore, the analyses demonstrate that the correlation between the NAO and C. finmarchicus abundance is modulated by the thermal regime of the North Sea, which in turn covaries positively with global temperature anomalies. This study thereby provides evidence that global climate change is likely to alter some empirical relationships found in the past between species abundance or the ecosystem state and large-scale natural sources of hydro-climatological variability. A theory is proposed to explain how this might happen. These unanticipated changes, also called ‘surprises’ in climatic research, are a direct consequence of the complexity of both climatic and biological systems. In this period of rapid climate change, it is therefore hazardous to integrate meteo-oceanic indices such as the NAO in models used in the management of living resources, as it has been sometimes attempted in the past.

The importance of zooplankton in reducing levels of atmospheric CO sub(2) via the biological pump

Zooplankton play a key role in climate change through the transfer of large quantities of CO sub(2) to the deep ocean by a process known as the biological pump. Plankton composition is crucial as associated mineral material facilitates sinking of carbon rich debris and some taxa package faecal and detrital material. Ocean acidification may impact calcareous groups. Zooplankton have also been shown to be highly sensitive indicators of environmental change. Results will be presented to show that ocean temperature, circulation and planktonic ecosystems (using data from the Continuous Plankton Recorder, CPR survey) in the North Atlantic are changing rapidly in concert and that there is evidence to suggest that the changes are an ocean wide response to global warming with potential feedback effects. Given the importance of the oceans to the carbon cycle, even a minor change in the flux of carbon to the deep ocean would have a big impact increasing growth of atmospheric CO sub(2). We have virtually no understanding of the spatial and temporal variability in the efficiency of the biological pump for most of the world's ocean. Establishing new plankton monitoring programmes backed up by appropriate research to help understand processes is needed to address this gap in knowledge. There is little doubt within a global change context and the future of mankind that a potential acceleration in the growth of atmospheric carbon due to a reduction in the efficiency of the biological pump is a key issue for future research in zooplankton ecology.

A biological consequence of reducing Arctic ice cover: arrival of the Pacific diatom Neodenticula seminae in the North Atlantic for the first time in 800,000 years

The Continuous Plankton Recorder survey has monitored plankton in the Northwest Atlantic at monthly intervals since 1962, with an interegnum between 1978 and 1990. In May 1999, large numbers of the Pacific diatom Neodenticula seminae were found in Continuous Plankton Recorder (CPR) samples in the Labrador Sea as the first record in the North Atlantic for more than 800 000 years. The event coincided with modifications in Arctic hydrography and circulation, increased flows of Pacific water into the Northwest Atlantic and in the previous year the exceptional occurrence of extensive ice-free water to the North of Canada. These observations indicate that N. seminae was carried in a pulse of Pacific water in 1998/early 1999 via the Canadian Arctic Archipelago and/or Fram Strait. The species occurred previously in the North Atlantic during the Pleistocene from similar to 1.2 to similar to 0.8 Ma as recorded in deep sea sediment cores. The reappearance of N. seminae in the North Atlantic is an indicator of the scale and speed of changes that are taking place in the Arctic and North Atlantic oceans as a consequence of regional climate warming. Because of the unusual nature of the event it appears that a threshold has been passed, marking a change in the circulation between the North Pacific and North Atlantic Oceans via the Arctic. Trans-Arctic migrations from the Pacific into the Atlantic are likely to occur increasingly over the next 100 years as Arctic ice continues to melt affecting Atlantic biodiversity and the biological pump with consequent feedbacks to the carbon cycle.

Lagrangian evolution of DMS during the Southern Ocean gas exchange experiment: The effects of vertical mixing and biological community shift

Concentrations of dimethylsulfide (DMS) and its precursor dimethylsulfoniopropionate (DMSP) are highly variable in time and space. What is driving the variability in DMS(P), and can those variability be explained by physical processes and changes in the biological community? During the Southern Ocean Gas Exchange Experiment (SO GasEx) in the austral fall of 2008, two 3He/SF6 labeled patches were created in the surface water. SF6 and DMS were surveyed continuously in a Lagrangian framework, while direct measurements of air-sea exchange further constrained the gas budgets. Turbulent diffusivity at the base of the mixed layer was estimated from SF6 profiles and used to calculate the vertical fluxes of DMS and nutrients. Increasing mixed layer nutrient concentrations due to mixing were associated with a shift in the phytoplankton community structure, which in turned likely affected the sulfur dynamics on timescales of days. DMS concentration as well as air-sea DMS flux appeared to be decoupled from the DMSP concentration, possibly due to grazing and bacterial DMS production. Contrary to expectations, in an environment with high winds and modest productivity, physical processes (air-sea exchange, photochemistry, vertical mixing) only accounted for a small fraction of DMS loss from the surface water. Among the DMS sinks, inferred biological consumption most likely dominated during SO GasEx.

Foraging success of biological Levy flights recorded in situ

It is an open question how animals find food in dynamic natural environments where they possess little or no knowledge of where resources are located. Foraging theory predicts that in environments with sparsely distributed target resources, where forager knowledge about resources’ locations is incomplete, Lévy flight movements optimize the success of random searches. However, the putative success of Lévy foraging has been demonstrated only in model simulations. Here, we use high-temporal-resolution Global Positioning System (GPS) tracking of wandering (Diomedea exulans) and black-browed albatrosses (Thalassarche melanophrys) with simultaneous recording of prey captures, to show that both species exhibit Lévy and Brownian movement patterns. We find that total prey masses captured by wandering albatrosses during Lévy movements exceed daily energy requirements by nearly fourfold, and approached yields by Brownian movements in other habitats. These results, together with our reanalysis of previously published albatross data, overturn the notion that albatrosses do not exhibit Lévy patterns during foraging, and demonstrate that Lévy flights of predators in dynamic natural environments present a beneficial alternative strategy to simple, spatially intensive behaviors. Our findings add support to the possibility that biological Lévy flight may have naturally evolved as a search strategy in response to sparse resources and scant information.

Long-term annual primary production in the Ulleung Basin as a biological hot spot in the East/Japan Sea

Although the Ulleung Basin is an important biological hot spot in East/Japan Sea (hereafter the East Sea), very limited knowledge for seasonal and annual variations in the primary productivity exists. In this study, a recent decadal trend of primary production in the Ulleung Basin was analyzed based on MODIS-derived monthly primary production for a better annual production budget. Based on the MODIS-derived primary production, the mean daily primary productivity was 766.8 mg C m-2 d-1 (SD=+/- 196.7 mg C m-2 d-1) and the annual primary productivity was 280.2 g C m-2 yr-1 (SD=+/- 14.9 g C m-2 yr-1) in the Ulleung Basin during the study period. The monthly contributions of primary production were not largely variable among different months, and a relatively small interannual production variability was also observed in the Ulleung Basin, which indicates that the Ulleung Basin is a sustaining biologically productive region called as hot spot in the East Sea. However, a significant recent decline in the annual primary production was observed in the Ulleung Basin after 2006. Although no strong possibilities were found in this study, the current warming sea surface temperature and a negative phase PDO index were suggested for the recent declining primary production. For a better understanding of subsequent effects on marine ecosystems, more intensive interdisciplinary field studies will be required in the Ulleung Basin.

Evolution of Marine Organisms under Climate Change at Different Levels of Biological Organisation

Research to date has suggested that both individual marine species and ecological processes are expected to exhibit diverse responses to the environmental effects of climate change. Evolutionary responses can occur on rapid (ecological) timescales, and yet studies typically do not consider the role that adaptive evolution will play in modulating biological responses to climate change. Investigations into such responses have typically been focused at particular biological levels (e.g., cellular, population, community), often lacking interactions among levels. Since all levels of biological organisation are sensitive to global climate change, there is a need to elucidate how different processes and hierarchical interactions will influence species fitness. Therefore, predicting the responses of communities and populations to global change will require multidisciplinary efforts across multiple levels of hierarchy, from the genetic and cellular to communities and ecosystems. Eventually, this may allow us to establish the role that acclimatisation and adaptation will play in determining marine community structures in future scenarios.

Volcanic ash supply to the surface ocean – remote sensing of biological responses and their wider biogeochemical significance

Transient micronutrient enrichment of the surface ocean can enhance phytoplankton growth rates and alter microbial community structure with an ensuing spectrum of biogeochemical feedbacks. Strong phytoplankton responses to micronutrients supplied by volcanic ash have been reported recently. Here we: (i) synthesize findings from these recent studies; (ii) report the results of a new remote sensing study of ash fertilization; and (iii) calculate theoretical bounds of ash-fertilized carbon export. Our synthesis highlights that phytoplankton responses to ash do not always simply mimic that of iron amendment; the exact mechanisms for this are likely biogeochemically important but are not yet well understood. Inherent optical properties of ash-loaded seawater suggest rhyolitic ash biases routine satellite chlorophyll-a estimation upwards by more than an order of magnitude for waters with <0.1 mg chlorophyll-a m-3, and less than a factor of 2 for systems with >0.5 mg chlorophyll-a m-3. For this reason post-ash-deposition chlorophyll-a changes in oligotrophic waters detected via standard Case 1 (open ocean) algorithms should be interpreted with caution. Remote sensing analysis of historic events with a bias less than a factor of 2 provided limited stand-alone evidence for ash-fertilization. Confounding factors were poor coverage, incoherent ash dispersal, and ambiguity ascribing biomass changes to ash supply over other potential drivers. Using current estimates of iron release and carbon export efficiencies, uncertainty bounds of ash-fertilized carbon export for 3 events are presented. Patagonian iron supply to the Southern Ocean from volcanic eruptions is less than that of windblown dust on thousand year timescales but can dominate supply at shorter timescales. Reducing uncertainties in remote sensing of phytoplankton response and nutrient release from ash are avenues for enabling assessment of the oceanic response to large-scale transient nutrient enrichment.

Biological and ecological traits of marine species

This paper reviews the utility and availability of biological and ecological traits for marine species so as to prioritise the development of a world database on marine species traits. In addition, the ‘status’ of species for conservation, that is, whether they are introduced or invasive, of fishery or aquaculture interest, harmful, or used as an ecological indicator, were reviewed because these attributes are of particular interest to society. Whereas traits are an enduring characteristic of a species and/or population, a species status may vary geographically and over time. Criteria for selecting traits were that they could be applied to most taxa, were easily available, and their inclusion would result in new research and/or management applications. Numerical traits were favoured over categorical. Habitat was excluded as it can be derived from a selection of these traits. Ten traits were prioritized for inclusion in the most comprehensive open access database on marine species (World Register of Marine Species), namely taxonomic classification, environment, geography, depth, substratum, mobility, skeleton, diet, body size and reproduction. These traits and statuses are being added to the database and new use cases may further subdivide and expand upon them.

Biological Communities at Marine Shallow-Water Vent and Seep Sites

The review compiles, for the first time, data on the communities at 62 shallow-water hydrothermal vent and cold seep sites. ‘Shallow sites’ are defined as sites no deeper than 200 m. The communities at these sites are also compared with communities in reducing sediments at similar depths. Below 200 m, vent and seep obligate species tend to dominate the fauna living in areas where reducing fluids are released from the seabed. At the shallow sites, vent and seep obligate species of fauna are rare, only eight having being reported from shallow vents. No definite seep obligates have been found. Shallow vents and seeps are colonized by communities that consist of a subset of the background fauna, especially those species that are less sensitive to hydrogen sulphide toxicity. Conversely the zones directly surrounding shallow vent and seeps sites with varied topography, substrate type and food supply, often have a higher species diversity than the background area. The reasons for these differences are discussed.

Beyond long-term averages: making biological sense of a rapidly changing world

Biological responses to climate change are typically communicated in generalized terms such as poleward and altitudinal range shifts, but adaptation efforts relevant to management decisions often require forecasts that incorporate the interaction of multiple climatic and nonclimatic stressors at far smaller spatiotemporal scales. We argue that the desire for generalizations has, ironically, contributed to the frequent conflation of weather with climate, even within the scientific community. As a result, current predictions of ecological responses to climate change, and the design of experiments to understand underlying mechanisms, are too often based on broad-scale trends and averages that at a proximate level may have very little to do with the vulnerability of organisms and ecosystems. The creation of biologically relevant metrics of environmental change that incorporate the physical mechanisms by which climate trains patterns of weather, coupled with knowledge of how organisms and ecosystems respond to these changes, can offer insight into which aspects of climate change may be most important to monitor and predict. This approach also has the potential to enhance our ability to communicate impacts of climate change to nonscientists and especially to stakeholders attempting to enact climate change adaptation policies.

The contribution of volunteer recorders to our understanding of biological invasions

The process of invasion and the desire to predict the invasiveness (and associated impacts) of new arrivals has been a focus of attention for ecologists over centuries. The volunteer recording community has made unique and inspiring contributions to our understanding of invasion biology within Britain. Indeed information on non-native species (NNS) compiled within the GB Non-Native Species Information Portal (GB-NNSIP) would not have been possible without the involvement of volunteer experts from across Britain. Here we review examples of ways in which biological records have informed invasion biology. We specifically examine NNS information available within the GB-NNSIP to describe patterns in the arrival and establishment of NNS providing an overview of habitat associations of NNS in terrestrial, marine and freshwater environments. Monitoring and surveillance of the subset of NNS that are considered to be adversely affecting biodiversity, society or the economy, termed invasive non-native species (INNS), is critical for early warning and rapid response. Volunteers are major contributors to monitoring and surveillance of INNS and not only provide records from across Britain but also underpin the system of verification necessary to confirm the identification of sightings. Here we describe the so-called ‘alert system’ which links volunteer experts with the wider recording community to provide early warning of INNS occurrence. We highlight the need to increase understanding of community and ecosystem-level effects of invasions and particularly understanding of ecological resilience. Detailed field observations, through biological recording, will provide the spatial, temporal and taxonomic breadth required for such research. The role of the volunteer recording community in contributing to the understanding of invasion biology has been invaluable and it is clear that their expertise and commitment will continue to be so. © 2015 The Linnean Society of London, Biological Journal of the Linnean Society, 2015,