Revisiting the footprints of climate change in Arctic marine food webs: An assessment of knowledge gained since 2010

In 2011, a first comprehensive assessment of the footprints of climate change on Arctic marine ecosystems (such as altered distribution ranges, abundances, growth and body conditions, behaviours and phenologies, as well as community and regime shifts) was published. Here, we re-assess the climate-driven impacts reported since then, to elucidate to which extent and how observed ecological footprints have changed in the following decade (2011 to 2021). In total, 98 footprints have been described and analysed. Most of those impacts reported in the 2011 assessment are reconfirmed and can, hence, be assumed as continuing trends. In addition, novel footprints (behavioural changes, diet changes, altered competition and pathogen load) are described. As in 2011, most reported footprints are related to changes in distribution ranges, abundances, biomass and production. Range shifts have mostly been observed for fish species, while behavioural changes have mainly been reported for mammals. Primary production has been observed to further increase in Arctic seas. The footprints on pelagic herbivores, particularly the key species Calanus spp., are less clear. In comparison to 2011, more complex, cascading effects of climate change, such as increased bowhead whale body conditions due to increased primary production, have been reported. The observed footprints, and the trends that they indicate, strongly suggest that due to further northward range shifts of sub-Arctic and boreal species Arctic seas are likely to experience increasing species richness in the future. However, a tipping point may be reached, characterized by subsequent biodiversity decline, when Arctic-endemic species will go extinct as ocean warming and/or acidification will exceed their physiological adaptation capacity.Overall, the future Arctic Ocean will very likely experience increasing numbers and intensities of climate-change footprints

Physical constrains and productivity in the future Arctic Ocean

Published version. Also available at http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fmars.2015.00085Today's physical oceanography and primary and secondary production was investigated for the entire Arctic Ocean (AO) with the physical-biologically coupled SINMOD model. To obtain indications on the effect of climate change in the twenty-first century the magnitude of change, and where and when these may take place SINMOD was forced with down-scaled climate trajectories of the International Panel of Climate Change with the A1B climate scenario which appears to predict an average global atmospheric temperature increase of 3.5–4°C at the end of this century. It is projected that some surface water features of the physical oceanography in the AO and adjacent regions will change considerably. The largest changes will occur along the continuous domains of Pacific and in particular regarding Atlantic Water (AW) advection and the inflow shelves. Withdrawal of ice will increase primary production, but stratification will persist or, for the most, get stronger as a function of ice-melt and thermal warming along the inflow shelves. Thus, the nutrient dependent new and harvestable production will not increase proportionally with increasing photosynthetic active radiation (PAR). The greatest increases in primary production are found along the Eurasian perimeter of the AO (up to 40 g C m−2 y−1) and in particular in the northern Barents and Kara Seas (40–80 g C m−2 y−1) where less ice-cover implies less Arctic Water (ArW) and thus less stratification. Along the shelf break engirdling the AO upwelling and vertical mixing supplies nutrients to the euphotic zone when ice-cover withdraws northwards. The production of Arctic copepods along the Eurasian perimeter of the AO will increase significantly by the end of this century (2–4 g C m−2 y−1). Primary and secondary production will decrease along the southern sections of the continuous advection domains of Pacific and AW due to increasing thermal stratification. In the central AO primary production will not increase much due to stratification-induced nutrient limitation

Editorial: Towards a Unifying Pan-Arctic Perspective of the Contemporary and Future Arctic Ocean

An international symposium addressing pan-Arctic perspectives of the marine ecosystems of the Arctic Ocean took place in October 2017 and this editorial introduces the publications that derived from the conference. The symposium focused in particular upon physical forcing and biogeochemical cycling in surface waters of the Arctic Ocean, connectivity between surface and deep waters in the central basins and adjacent slopes and the ecology of the lesser-known shelf ecosystems. The symposium was the fourth in a sequence that has pan-Arctic integrations of Arctic Ocean ecosystems at its core. The series started in 2002 and its first volume was published under the title Structure and function of contemporary food webs on Arctic shelves (Wassmann, 2006). At the 2002-meeting, a suite of marine Arctic researchers from the main nations that work in the Arctic Ocean started applying the now-ubiquitous term pan-Arctic. The term underlined that the applied research goals and directions were more than a circumarctic perspective, but distinctly considered the entire expanse of the Arctic Ocean. Based upon this exercise, increased interest in the Arctic and some of the scientific endeavors of the 4th International Polar Year central projects and key oceanographers operating in the pan-Arctic region convened at the 2nd pan-Arctic integration symposium, entitled Arctic Marine Ecosystems in an Era of Rapid Climate Change in 2009 (Wassmann, 2011). After a decade of pan-Arctic research and building upon the foundation presented in Wassmann (2006, 2011) a 3rd conference was initiated in 2012, entitled Overarching perspectives of contemporary and future ecosystems in the Arctic Ocean (Wassmann, 2015). This Research Topic brings together 13 publications from the 4th pan-arctic integration symposium held in 2017, entitled Toward a Unifying Pan-Arctic Perspective of the Contemporary and Future Arctic Ocean. We, the editors of the Research Topic, are delighted with the breadth, quality and diversity of the papers. We introduce the essence of the publications under three, summarizing headlines • Physical connectivity, yet regionality • What shapes pan-Arctic primary production • The fate of production. Toward the end we incorporate the knowledge presented in this volume into the overall progress. and status of pan-Arctic marine ecosystem integration that has been achieved, so far, through the four pan-Arctic integration symposia

Continuous daylight in the high-Arctic summer supports high plankton respiration rates compared to those supported in the dark

Plankton respiration rate is a major component of global CO2 production and is forecasted to increase rapidly in the Arctic with warming. Yet, existing assessments in the Arctic evaluated plankton respiration in the dark. Evidence that plankton respiration may be stimulated in the light is particularly relevant for the high Arctic where plankton communities experience continuous daylight in spring and summer. Here we demonstrate that plankton community respiration evaluated under the continuous daylight conditions present in situ, tends to be higher than that evaluated in the dark. The ratio between community respiration measured in the light (Rlight) and in the dark (Rdark) increased as the 2/3 power of Rlight so that the Rlight:Rdark ratio increased from an average value of 1.37 at the median Rlight measured here (3.62 µmol O2 L-1 d-1) to an average value of 17.56 at the highest Rlight measured here (15.8 µmol O2 L-1 d-1). The role of respiratory processes as a source of CO2 in the Arctic has, therefore, been underestimated and is far more important than previously believed, particularly in the late spring, with 24 h photoperiods, when community respiration rates are highest

Warming and CO2 Enhance Arctic Heterotrophic Microbial Activity

Ocean acidification and warming are two main consequences of climate change that can directly affect biological and ecosystem processes in marine habitats. The Arctic Ocean is the region of the world experiencing climate change at the steepest rate compared with other latitudes. Since marine planktonic microorganisms play a key role in the biogeochemical cycles in the ocean it is crucial to simultaneously evaluate the effect of warming and increasing CO2 on marine microbial communities. In 20 L experimental microcosms filled with water from a high-Arctic fjord (Svalbard), we examined changes in phototrophic and heterotrophic microbial abundances and processes [bacterial production (BP) and mortality], and viral activity (lytic and lysogenic) in relation to warming and elevated CO2. The summer microbial plankton community living at 1.4°C in situ temperature, was exposed to increased CO2 concentrations (135–2,318 μatm) in three controlled temperature treatments (1, 6, and 10°C) at the UNIS installations in Longyearbyen (Svalbard), in summer 2010. Results showed that chlorophyll a concentration decreased at increasing temperatures, while BP significantly increased with pCO2 at 6 and 10°C. Lytic viral production was not affected by changes in pCO2 and temperature, while lysogeny increased significantly at increasing levels of pCO2, especially at 10°C (R2 = 0.858, p = 0.02). Moreover, protistan grazing rates showed a positive interaction between pCO2 and temperature. The averaged percentage of bacteria grazed per day was higher (19.56 ± 2.77% d-1) than the averaged percentage of lysed bacteria by virus (7.18 ± 1.50% d-1) for all treatments. Furthermore, the relationship among microbial abundances and processes showed that BP was significantly related to phototrophic pico/nanoflagellate abundance in the 1°C and the 6°C treatments, and BP triggered viral activity, mainly lysogeny at 6 and 10°C, while bacterial mortality rates was significantly related to bacterial abundances at 6°C. Consequently, our experimental results suggested that future increases in water temperature and pCO2 in Arctic waters will produce a decrease of phytoplankton biomass, enhancement of BP and changes in the carbon fluxes within the microbial food web. All these heterotrophic processes will contribute to weakening the CO2 sink capacity of the Arctic plankton community.En prens

Borealization of the Arctic Ocean in Response to Anomalous Advection From Sub-Arctic Seas

An important yet still not well documented aspect of recent changes in the Arctic Ocean is associated with the advection of anomalous sub-Arctic Atlantic- and Pacific-origin waters and biota into the polar basins, a process which we refer to as borealization. Using a 37-year archive of observations (1981-2017) we demonstrate dramatically contrasting regional responses to atlantification (that part of borealization related to progression of anomalies from the Atlantic sector of sub-Arctic seas into the Arctic Ocean) and pacification (the counterpart of atlantification associated with influx of anomalous Pacific waters). Particularly, we show strong salinification of the upper Eurasian Basin since 2000, with attendant reductions in stratification, and potentially altered nutrient fluxes and primary production. These changes are closely related to upstream conditions. In contrast, pacification is strongly manifested in the Amerasian Basin by the anomalous influx of Pacific waters, creating conditions favorable for increased heat and freshwater content in the Beaufort Gyre halocline and expansion of Pacific species into the Arctic interior. Here, changes in the upper (overlying) layers are driven by local Arctic atmospheric processes resulting in stronger wind/ice/ocean coupling, increased convergence within the Beaufort Gyre, a thickening of the fresh surface layer, and a deepening of the nutricline and deep chlorophyll maximum. Thus, a divergent (Eurasian Basin) gyre responds altogether differently than does a convergent (Amerasian Basin) gyre to climate forcing. Available geochemical data indicate a general decrease in nutrient concentrations Arctic-wide, except in the northern portions of the Makarov and Amundsen Basins and northern Chukchi Sea and Canada Basin. Thus, changes in the circulation pathways of specific water masses, as well as the utilization of nutrients in upstream regions, may control the availability of nutrients in the Arctic Ocean. Model-based evaluation of the trajectory of the Arctic climate system into the future suggests that Arctic borealization will continue under scenarios of global warming. Results from this synthesis further our understanding of the Arctic Ocean\u27s complex and sometimes non-intuitive Arctic response to climate forcing by identifying new feedbacks in the atmosphere-ice-ocean system in which borealization plays a key role

Blood-Based Biomarkers of Aggressive Prostate Cancer

Purpose: Prostate cancer is a bimodal disease with aggressive and indolent forms. Current prostate-specific-antigen testing and digital rectal examination screening provide ambiguous results leading to both under-and over-treatment. Accurate, consistent diagnosis is crucial to risk-stratify patients and facilitate clinical decision making as to treatment versus active surveillance. Diagnosis is currently achieved by needle biopsy, a painful procedure. Thus, there is a clinical need for a minimally-invasive test to determine prostate cancer aggressiveness. A blood sample to predict Gleason score, which is known to reflect aggressiveness of the cancer, could serve as such a test. Materials and Methods: Blood mRNA was isolated from North American and Malaysian prostate cancer patients/controls. Microarray analysis was conducted utilizing the Affymetrix U133 plus 2·0 platform. Expression profiles from 255 patients/controls generated 85 candidate biomarkers. Following quantitative real-time PCR (qRT-PCR) analysis, ten disease-associated biomarkers remained for paired statistical analysis and normalization. Results: Microarray analysis was conducted to identify 85 genes differentially expressed between aggressive prostate cancer (Gleason score ≥8) and controls. Expression of these genes was qRT-PCR verified. Statistical analysis yielded a final seven-gene panel evaluated as six gene-ratio duplexes. This molecular signature predicted as aggressive (ie, Gleason score ≥8) 55% of G6 samples, 49% of G7(3+4), 79% of G7(4+3) and 83% of G8-10, while rejecting 98% of controls. Conclusion: In this study, we have developed a novel, blood-based biomarker panel which can be used as the basis of a simple blood test to identify men with aggressive prostate cancer and thereby reduce the overdiagnosis and overtreatment that currently results from diagnosis using PSA alone. We discuss possible clinical uses of the panel to identify men more likely to benefit from biopsy and immediate therapy versus those more suited to an “active surveillance” strategy

Panel-based Assessment of Ecosystem Condition of Norwegian Barents Sea Shelf Ecosystems - Appendices

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Panel-based Assessment of Ecosystem Condition of Norwegian Barents Sea Shelf Ecosystems - Appendices

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