Exploring the paradigm of a global expansion in jellyfish blooms: implications for biogeochemical cycles and food webs in a changing ocean
Robert H. CondonKylie A. PittCarlos M. DuarteWilliam M. GrahamCathy H. LucasKelly L. RobinsonMario LebratoCraig A. CarlsonPaul A. del Giorgio
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During the past several decades, high numbers of gelatinous zooplankton species have been reported in many estuarine and coastal ecosystems. Coupled with media-driven public perception, a paradigm has evolved in which the global ocean ecosystems are thought to be heading toward being dominated by “nuisance” jellyfish. We question this current paradigm by presenting a broad overview of gelatinous zooplankton in a historical context to develop the hypothesis that population changes reflect the human-mediated alteration of global ocean ecosystems. To this end, we synthesize information related to the evolutionary context of contemporary gelatinous zooplankton blooms, the human frame of reference for changes in gelatinous zooplankton populations, and whether sufficient data are available to have established the paradigm. We conclude that the current paradigm in which it is believed that there has been a global increase in gelatinous zooplankton is unsubstantiated, and we develop a strategy for addressing the critical questions about long-term, human-related changes in the sea as they relate to gelatinous zooplankton blooms.
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Historical Ecology
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EDITORIAL article Front. Mar. Sci., 28 May 2019Sec. Marine Ecosystem Ecology Volume 6 - 2019 | https://doi.org/10.3389/fmars.2019.00272
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An Ecopath model covering whole territorial waters of the East China Sea(ECS) and taking large jellyfish as a separated functional group has been developed to estimate the role and impact of large jellyfish on the ECS ecosystem based on the energy balance analysis.The trophic control mechanisms of jellyfish blooms were examined with the ECS Ecopath model.The analysis of the trophic interactions was identified that:The large jellyfish blooms have the negative impact on the pelagic resources.There is a possible pelagic feedback loop triggered by the large jellyfish blooms involving large jellyfish,zooplankton and small pelagic fishes as Stromateoidae.The pelagic pathway in the ecosystem will be disrupted at the initial stage of a large jellyfish bloom.The fluctuation of zooplankton biomass might be one of the natural control mechanisms of large bloom.
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Jellyfish are conspicuous components of marine ecosystems and recognized as valuable indicators of ecosystem performance and change. Although changes in their population size have been described for long time, recent reports indicate an increase of jellyfish proliferations in different shelf seas worldwide. In this study we used a comparative approach based on time series data and ecosystem modeling to evaluate how food web complexity and ecosystem degradation interact with the dynamics of jellyfish. The ecosystems investigated represent two contrasting environments, the Kiel Fjord, south-western Baltic Sea, and the Marine Protected area of the National Park Mljet, in the south Adriatic Sea. The results show that jellyfish dynamics is favored by food web degradation, which together with global warming, allow higher variability in jellyfish outbreaks. The consequences of such dynamics may jeopardize the ecosystem resilience under global warming scenarios.
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Unprecedented and dramatic transformations are occurring in the Arctic in response to climate change, but academic, public, and political discourse has disproportionately focussed on the most visible and direct aspects of change, including sea ice melt, permafrost thaw, the fate of charismatic megafauna, and the expansion of fisheries. Such narratives disregard the importance of less visible and indirect processes and, in particular, miss the substantive contribution of the shelf seafloor in regulating nutrients and sequestering carbon. Here, we summarise the biogeochemical functioning of the Arctic shelf seafloor before considering how climate change and regional adjustments to human activities may alter its biogeochemical and ecological dynamics, including ecosystem function, carbon burial, or nutrient recycling. We highlight the importance of the Arctic benthic system in mitigating climatic and anthropogenic change and, with a focus on the Barents Sea, offer some observations and our perspectives on future management and policy.
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MEPS Marine Ecology Progress Series Contact the journal Facebook Twitter RSS Mailing List Subscribe to our mailing list via Mailchimp HomeLatest VolumeAbout the JournalEditorsTheme Sections MEPS 591:3-5 (2018) - DOI: https://doi.org/10.3354/meps12536 Theme Section: Jellyfish bloom research: advances and challenges INTRODUCTION Jellyfish blooms: advances and challenges Verónica L. Fuentes1,*, Jennifer E. Purcell2, Robert H. Condon3, Fabien Lombard4, Cathy H. Lucas5 1Institut de Ciències del Mar, CSIC, Pg. Marítim de la Barceloneta 37–49, 08003 Barcelona, Spain 2Biology Department, Western Washington University, 518 High St., Bellingham, WA 98225, USA 3Young Scientist Academy, 702 Paisley Court, Wilmington, NC 28409, USA 4Sorbonne Université, CNRS-INSU, Laboratoire d'Océanographie de Villefranche, LOV UMR 7093, 06230 Villefranche-sur-mer, France 5Ocean and Earth Science, National Oceanography Centre, University of Southampton, European Way, Southampton SO14 3ZH, UK *Corresponding author: vfuentes@icm.csic.es ABSTRACT: As jellyfish interactions with humans increase in coastal waters, there is an urgent need to provide science-based management strategies to mitigate the negative socioeconomic impacts of jellyfish blooms and to exploit potential benefits of their ecosystem services. This Theme Section presents the latest advances in jellyfish research, from new sampling methods to food-web and life-cycle studies. The methodological advances presented will help to overcome difficulties in sampling due to the fluctuations in abundance and irregular distributions of jellyfish. The ecology of gelatinous species in marine food webs is explored through studying interactions between jellyfish and fish. Aspects of jellyfish life cycles, which often include both attached polyps and swimming medusae, are elucidated by locating the polyps and determining the factors that contribute to their success. Knowledge on all of these factors will be essential to understand the bloom dynamics of specific jellyfish groups. KEY WORDS: Gelatinous zooplankton · Medusae · Ctenophores · Scyphistoma · Life cycle · Population dynamics · Ecology · Food web · Fisheries Full text in pdf format NextCite this article as: Fuentes VL, Purcell JE, Condon RH, Lombard F, Lucas CH (2018) Jellyfish blooms: advances and challenges. Mar Ecol Prog Ser 591:3-5. https://doi.org/10.3354/meps12536 Export citation RSS - Facebook - Tweet - linkedIn Cited by Published in MEPS Vol. 591. Online publication date: March 19, 2018 Print ISSN: 0171-8630; Online ISSN: 1616-1599 Copyright © 2018 Inter-Research.
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Abstract. The ecosystem of the Baltic Sea is endangered by eutrophication. This has triggered expensive international management efforts. Some of these efforts are impeded by natural processes such as nitrogen-fixing cyanobacteria blooms that add bioavailable nitrogen to the already over-fertilised system and thereby enhance primary production, export of organic matter to depth and associated oxygen consumption. Controls of cyanobacteria blooms are not comprehensively understood and this adds to the uncertainty 5 of model-based projections into the warming future of the Baltic Sea. Here we review our current understanding of cyanobacteria bloom dynamics. We summarise published field studies, laboratory experiments and dissect the basic principles ingrained in state-of-the-art coupled ocean-circulation biogeochemical models.
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23 The ocean accounts for more than 70% of planet Earth’s surface, and its processes are critically important to marine and terrestrial life. Ocean ecosystems are strongly dependent on the physical state of the ocean (e.g., transports, mixing, upwelling, runoff, and ice dynamics). As an example, consider the Coastal Gulf of Alaska (CGOA) region (Figure 1). The CGOA is an important area for primary production in the lower trophic-level ecosystem, with large spring phytoplankton blooms (and smaller fall blooms) that are a critical component of the food web Models for Ecological Models: Ocean Primary Productivity
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