Evaluation of the Beaufort Sea Shelf Structure and Function in Support of the Tarium Niryutait Marine Protected Area

IF 2.7 3区地球科学 Q2 ECOLOGY

Arctic Science Pub Date : 2022-06-01 DOI:10.1139/as-2020-0040

Kristen J. Sora, C. Wabnitz, Nadja Steiner, U. Sumaila, W. Cheung, A. Niemi, L. Loseto, Carie Hoover

{"title":"Evaluation of the Beaufort Sea Shelf Structure and Function in Support of the Tarium Niryutait Marine Protected Area","authors":"Kristen J. Sora, C. Wabnitz, Nadja Steiner, U. Sumaila, W. Cheung, A. Niemi, L. Loseto, Carie Hoover","doi":"10.1139/as-2020-0040","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"Arctic ecosystems are at risk to climate impacts, challenging existing conservation measures such as protected areas. This study aims to describe the ecological dynamics of the Canadian Beaufort Sea Shelf (BSS) ecosystem and the Tarium Niryutait Marine Protected Area (TNMPA) under historical changes in sea surface temperature and sea ice extent. Using Ecopath with Ecosim, we compared the status of the BSS between two time periods, 1970-1974 and 2008-2012, and against four ecosystem models (Eastern Chukchi Sea, Barents Sea, Eastern Bering Sea, Gulf of Alaska) to inform the relative long-term health and status of Arctic marine ecosystems. We find that relative to the comparable ecosystems, the BSS had a greater proportion of biomass from pelagic primary and secondary producers, and limited production from higher trophic levels. Estimates of trophic structure indices for the BSS indicate temporal ecosystem stability, and no loss in diversity. While beluga whales are a focus of the TNMPA management plan, they are not considered a key component of the modeled food web. Rather, Arctic and polar cods (main beluga prey group), arthropods, large copepods, micro-zooplankton, and herring and smelt, were identified as keystone species and warrant attention as proxies for both beluga whales and ecosystem health.","PeriodicalId":48575,"journal":{"name":"Arctic Science","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.7000,"publicationDate":"2022-06-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"2","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Arctic Science","FirstCategoryId":"89","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1139/as-2020-0040","RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"地球科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q2","JCRName":"ECOLOGY","Score":null,"Total":0}

引用次数: 2

Abstract

Arctic ecosystems are at risk to climate impacts, challenging existing conservation measures such as protected areas. This study aims to describe the ecological dynamics of the Canadian Beaufort Sea Shelf (BSS) ecosystem and the Tarium Niryutait Marine Protected Area (TNMPA) under historical changes in sea surface temperature and sea ice extent. Using Ecopath with Ecosim, we compared the status of the BSS between two time periods, 1970-1974 and 2008-2012, and against four ecosystem models (Eastern Chukchi Sea, Barents Sea, Eastern Bering Sea, Gulf of Alaska) to inform the relative long-term health and status of Arctic marine ecosystems. We find that relative to the comparable ecosystems, the BSS had a greater proportion of biomass from pelagic primary and secondary producers, and limited production from higher trophic levels. Estimates of trophic structure indices for the BSS indicate temporal ecosystem stability, and no loss in diversity. While beluga whales are a focus of the TNMPA management plan, they are not considered a key component of the modeled food web. Rather, Arctic and polar cods (main beluga prey group), arthropods, large copepods, micro-zooplankton, and herring and smelt, were identified as keystone species and warrant attention as proxies for both beluga whales and ecosystem health.

查看原文本刊更多论文

Beaufort海架结构和功能对Tarium Niryutait海洋保护区的支持评估

北极生态系统面临气候影响的风险，对保护区等现有保护措施构成挑战。本研究旨在描述在历史温度和海冰范围变化下，加拿大波弗特海陆架(BSS)生态系统和Tarium Niryutait海洋保护区(TNMPA)的生态动态。利用Ecopath和Ecosim软件，对比了1970-1974年和2008-2012年两个时间段的BSS状况，并与四个生态系统模型(东楚科奇海、巴伦支海、东白令海、阿拉斯加湾)进行了比较，以了解北极海洋生态系统的相对长期健康状况。我们发现，相对于可比生态系统，BSS的生物量来自上层初级和次级生产者的比例更高，而来自高营养水平的产量有限。对BSS的营养结构指数的估计表明了时间生态系统的稳定性，并且没有多样性的损失。虽然白鲸是TNMPA管理计划的重点，但它们并不被认为是模拟食物网的关键组成部分。相反，北极和极地鳕鱼(白鲸的主要猎物群体)、节肢动物、大型桡足动物、微型浮游动物、鲱鱼和鲱鱼被确定为关键物种，值得关注，因为它们是白鲸和生态系统健康的代表。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

求助全文

约1分钟内获得全文求助全文

来源期刊

Arctic Science Agricultural and Biological Sciences-General Agricultural and Biological Sciences

CiteScore

5.00

自引率

12.10%

发文量

期刊介绍： Arctic Science is an interdisciplinary journal that publishes original peer-reviewed research from all areas of natural science and applied science & engineering related to northern Polar Regions. The focus on basic and applied science includes the traditional knowledge and observations of the indigenous peoples of the region as well as cutting-edge developments in biological, chemical, physical and engineering science in all northern environments. Reports on interdisciplinary research are encouraged. Special issues and sections dealing with important issues in northern polar science are also considered.