Climate change in polar marine ecosystems

Climate change will have a significant effect on polar marine ecosystems. While primary production is likely to fall in tropical and temperate seas, it is likely to rise in polar seas. This, however, will only support shorter food chains, which will lead to a decline in major vertebrate species. In...

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Main Author: McMinn, A.
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: 2011
Online Access:http://journalarticle.ukm.my/2547/
http://journalarticle.ukm.my/2547/
http://journalarticle.ukm.my/2547/1/5.pdf
id ukm-2547
recordtype eprints
spelling ukm-25472016-12-14T06:31:56Z http://journalarticle.ukm.my/2547/ Climate change in polar marine ecosystems McMinn, A., Climate change will have a significant effect on polar marine ecosystems. While primary production is likely to fall in tropical and temperate seas, it is likely to rise in polar seas. This, however, will only support shorter food chains, which will lead to a decline in major vertebrate species. In polar seas climate change will lead to increased sea-water temperatures, decreased ice cover and a lower pH. Because ice cover is largely impervious to satellite observation, our understanding of polar sea ice and under ice phytoplankton biomass and productivity is still poor. It is generally thought that sea algal communities contribute up to 25% of total annual production in ice covered seas of both Polar Regions but that annual production in the Arctic Ocean is approximately 270 Tg y-1 while in the Antarctic Ocean it is between 980 and 3620 Tg y-1. A simple model of ice reduction, due to global warming, in the Antarctic (the Arrigo and Thomas model) suggests a net increase of 21% in primary production will result in a 50% ice reduction and a further 7% with a 95% ice reduction. However, the location, concentration and position of this production are likely to be quite different to what it is now. A similar, simple model applied to the Arctic suggests that this region will also experience a significant net increase in marine primary production as more of the ocean becomes ice free in summer. A 50% reduction in summer sea ice in the Arctic Ocean would lead to at least an 80% increase in production. Once again, however, the nature, position and concentration of this production is likely to be very different from the current configuration. These changes are likely to induce major trophic realignments in both hemispheres 2011 Article PeerReviewed application/pdf en http://journalarticle.ukm.my/2547/1/5.pdf McMinn, A., (2011) Climate change in polar marine ecosystems. Journal of Tropical Marine Ecosystem, 1 . pp. 44-50. http://www.ukm.my/jtme/index.php
repository_type Digital Repository
institution_category Local University
institution Universiti Kebangasaan Malaysia
building UKM Institutional Repository
collection Online Access
language English
description Climate change will have a significant effect on polar marine ecosystems. While primary production is likely to fall in tropical and temperate seas, it is likely to rise in polar seas. This, however, will only support shorter food chains, which will lead to a decline in major vertebrate species. In polar seas climate change will lead to increased sea-water temperatures, decreased ice cover and a lower pH. Because ice cover is largely impervious to satellite observation, our understanding of polar sea ice and under ice phytoplankton biomass and productivity is still poor. It is generally thought that sea algal communities contribute up to 25% of total annual production in ice covered seas of both Polar Regions but that annual production in the Arctic Ocean is approximately 270 Tg y-1 while in the Antarctic Ocean it is between 980 and 3620 Tg y-1. A simple model of ice reduction, due to global warming, in the Antarctic (the Arrigo and Thomas model) suggests a net increase of 21% in primary production will result in a 50% ice reduction and a further 7% with a 95% ice reduction. However, the location, concentration and position of this production are likely to be quite different to what it is now. A similar, simple model applied to the Arctic suggests that this region will also experience a significant net increase in marine primary production as more of the ocean becomes ice free in summer. A 50% reduction in summer sea ice in the Arctic Ocean would lead to at least an 80% increase in production. Once again, however, the nature, position and concentration of this production is likely to be very different from the current configuration. These changes are likely to induce major trophic realignments in both hemispheres
format Article
author McMinn, A.,
spellingShingle McMinn, A.,
Climate change in polar marine ecosystems
author_facet McMinn, A.,
author_sort McMinn, A.,
title Climate change in polar marine ecosystems
title_short Climate change in polar marine ecosystems
title_full Climate change in polar marine ecosystems
title_fullStr Climate change in polar marine ecosystems
title_full_unstemmed Climate change in polar marine ecosystems
title_sort climate change in polar marine ecosystems
publishDate 2011
url http://journalarticle.ukm.my/2547/
http://journalarticle.ukm.my/2547/
http://journalarticle.ukm.my/2547/1/5.pdf
first_indexed 2023-09-18T19:36:21Z
last_indexed 2023-09-18T19:36:21Z
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