Persistent Organic Pollutants represent a global ecological concern due to their ability to accumulate in organisms and to spread species-by-species via feeding connections. In this work we focus on the estimation and simulation of the bioaccumulation dynamics of persistent pollutants in the marine ecosystem, and we apply the approach for reconstructing a model of PCBs bioaccumulation in the Ad...

My long-term goal is to contribute to our understanding of the way different marine ecosystems function, and to the role of natural selection and micro-evolutionary processes in ecosystem resistance and resilience. In particular, I am interested in the interaction between physical, chemical, and bio-optical properties of the water column and the distribution, productivity, and genetic diversity...

This paper uses GIS and spatiotemporal analysis of a historically and culturally modified marine ecosystem to evaluate Pacific herring abundance, declines, vulnerabilities, and future prospects, about which a Native Tribe and state fisheries managers disagree. In 2008, the Sitka Tribe of Alaska (STA) requested that an area within its traditional waters be closed to commercial sac roe fishing to...

Policy makers, natural resource managers, regulators, and the public often call on scientists to estimate the potential ecological changes caused by both natural and human-induced stresses, and to determine how those changes will impact people and the environment. To develop accurate forecasts of ecological changes we need to: 1) increase understanding of ecosystem composition, structure, and f...

Policy makers, natural resource managers, regulators, and the public often call on scientists to estimate the potential ecological changes caused by both natural and human-induced stresses, and to determine how those changes will impact people and the environment. To develop accurate forecasts of ecological changes we need to: 1) increase understanding of ecosystem composition, structure, and f...

Identifying drivers of ecosystem change in large marine ecosystems is central for their effective management and conservation. This is a sizable challenge, particularly in ecosystems transcending international borders, where monitoring and conservation of long-range migratory species and their habitats are logistically and financially problematic. Here, using tools borrowed from epidemiology, w...

Complex adaptive system provides a unified framework for explaining ecosystem phenomena. Three ubiquitous features of ecosystems that arise from this framework are emergent patterns, critical transitions, and cooperative behavior. Focusing on marine ecosystems, we present numerous examples of each phenomenon, using the theory of complex adaptive systems to explain the universal features and com...

It is now well established that viruses are an abundant component of marine ecosystems and they are being increasingly recognised and accepted as important contnbutors to element cycling within the microbial loop. However, some of the key questions regarding the ecological significance of viruses in the marine environment still remain largely unanswered. Thus, particular interest is currently f...

PSAMP Long-term Sediment Monitoring As part of the Puget Sound Ambient Monitoring Program (PSAMP), the Washington State Department of Ecology sampled sediments at ten fixed stations each spring from 1989 through 2000 (Figure 1). Stations were chosen from a variety of habitats and geographic locations in Puget Sound. Sediments from each station were analyzed for particle size, organic carbon con...

The papers presented in this volume represent only a small part of the results obtained within the scope of the first integrated programme concerning the Mediterranean Sea. The latter is considered as a downscaled model of the ocean system, and a regional sea for the targeted projects supported by the European Commission. Whatever the domain is, the variability of the system appeared as a major...