A Major Ecosystem Shift in the Northern Bering Sea
NOAA National Marine Fisheries Service · National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration · +4 more institutions
Abstract
Until recently, northern Bering Sea ecosystems were characterized by extensive seasonal sea ice cover, high water column and sediment carbon production, and tight pelagic-benthic coupling of organic production. Here, we show that these ecosystems are shifting away from these characteristics. Changes in biological communities are contemporaneous with shifts in regional atmospheric and hydrographic forcing. In the past decade, geographic displacement of marine mammal population distributions has coincided with a reduction of benthic prey populations, an increase in pelagic fish, a reduction in sea ice, and an increase in air and ocean temperatures. These changes now observed on the shallow shelf of the northern…
Citation impact
- FWCI
- 44.37
- Percentile
- 100%
- References
- 17
Authors
10- JMJacqueline M. GrebmeierCorresponding
NOAA National Marine Fisheries Service, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Fisheries and Oceans Canada, NOAA Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory, NOAA National Marine Fisheries Service Alaska Fisheries Science Center, University of Tennessee at Knoxville
- JEJames E. Overland
NOAA National Marine Fisheries Service, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Fisheries and Oceans Canada, NOAA Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory, NOAA National Marine Fisheries Service Alaska Fisheries Science Center, University of Tennessee at Knoxville
- SESue E. Moore
NOAA National Marine Fisheries Service, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Fisheries and Oceans Canada, NOAA Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory, NOAA National Marine Fisheries Service Alaska Fisheries Science Center, University of Tennessee at Knoxville
- EFEd Farley
NOAA National Marine Fisheries Service, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Fisheries and Oceans Canada, NOAA Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory, NOAA National Marine Fisheries Service Alaska Fisheries Science Center, University of Tennessee at Knoxville
- ECEddy C. Carmack
NOAA National Marine Fisheries Service, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Fisheries and Oceans Canada, NOAA Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory, NOAA National Marine Fisheries Service Alaska Fisheries Science Center, University of Tennessee at Knoxville
Topics & keywords
- Pelagic zone
- Oceanography
- Benthic zone
- Environmental science
- Sea ice
- Arctic
- Ecosystem
- Marine ecosystem
- Life below water