Ocean Dynamics and Ecosystem Management

Community dynamics and ecosystem simplification in a high-CO2 ocean.

Disturbances are natural features of ecosystems that promote variability in the community and ultimately maintain diversity. Although it is recognized that global change will affect environmental disturbance regimes, our understanding of the community dynamics governing ecosystem recovery and the maintenance of functional diversity in future scenarios is very limited. Here, we use one of the fe...

Synthesis of Pacific Ocean Climate and Ecosystem Dynamics

News and analysis on ocean planning and ecosystem-based management

The strict harvest reductions that are needed to rebuild fisheries, said Rice, will be devastating for global communities dependent on fish protein and fishing income. At the same time, pressures from population growth and climate change will lead to even greater dependence on protein from capture fisheries and aquaculture. As a result, social and business pressure against biodiversity conserva...

High-Frequency Dynamics of Ocean pH: A Multi-Ecosystem Comparison

The effect of Ocean Acidification (OA) on marine biota is quasi-predictable at best. While perturbation studies, in the form of incubations under elevated pCO(2), reveal sensitivities and responses of individual species, one missing link in the OA story results from a chronic lack of pH data specific to a given species' natural habitat. Here, we present a compilation of continuous, high-resolut...

Integrated Ecosystem Assessments: Developing the Scientific Basis for Ecosystem-Based Management of the Ocean

Perspective A series of prominent and controversial papers about the state of marine ecosystems has occupied the pages of high-profile journals over the last decade [1–7]. While some might quarrel with the specific conclusions of these papers, there is no dispute that managers of ocean and coastal habitats confront a growing diversity of very serious challenges [8] that, if left unattended, thr...