DOCSLIB.ORG

Sccwrp 2016 Annual Report

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Sccwrp 2016 Annual Report SCCWRP 2016 ANNUAL REPORT Dedicated partners, insightful results Bight ’13 cooperative monitoring helps illuminate regional ecosystem condition CW SC R P SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA COASTAL WATER RESEARCH PROJECT A Public Agency for Environmental Research Es 69 tablished 19 Welcome to the interactive version of SCCWRP’s 2016 Annual Report! Click on the links below to jump directly to specific areas of the report. To request a printed copy of this report, [email protected] . Contents SCCWRP 2016 ANNUAL REPORT INTRODUCTION 2 | EXECUTIVE SUMMARY: Snapshot of success 4 | DIRECTOR’S MESSAGE: Regional monitoring’s hidden value FEATURE ARTICLES 5 | CONTAMINANT IMPACT ASSESSMENT: Tracking contamination’s ecosystem impacts 12 | TRASH AND MARINE DEBRIS: Overhauling trash management 19 | WATER QUALITY: Corrosive waters’ creep Courtesy of Amec Foster Wheeler A field crew from the Southern California Bight 2013 Regional Monitoring Program uses a grab sampler to collect sediment from the San Diego Bay seafloor. Through this cooperative monitoring program, environmental managers track how sediment contamination has impacted coastal ecosystems. Page 5 Southern California Coastal Water Research Project 2016 Annual Report ACCOMPLISHMENTS WITH JOURNAL ABSTRACTS Editor Stephen B. Weisberg, Ph.D. 27 | Overview Managing Editor 28 | Bioassessment Scott Martindale 31 | Ecohydrology Cover Photo 33 | Eutrophication A double Van Veen grab sampler is used to retrieve seafloor sediment as 38 | Climate Change part of the Southern California Bight 41 | Sediment Quality 2013 Regional Monitoring Program. 44 | Contaminants of Emerging Concern Copyright 2016 50 | Microbial Water Quality Southern California Coastal Water Research Project Authority 57 | Regional Monitoring 62 | Information Technology and Visualization 3535 Harbor Blvd., Suite 110 Costa Mesa, CA 92626 63 | Scientific Leadership www.sccwrp.org Printed on recycled paper PEOPLE 66 | SCCWRP Commissioners and CTAG Representatives 68 | SCCWRP staff Return to Table of Contents SCCWRP 2016 Annual Report 1 Snapshot of Success Steps taken by SCCWRP to improve aquatic science research and water-quality management in 2016 Scientific Scientific 1 credibility 2 consensus-building Goal: Establish and maintain credibility with Goal: Promote consensus-building through colleagues in the aquatic science community scientific collaboration and leadership SCCWRP can more effectively transition science into The most expeditious path for the water-quality management application when the agency engenders credibility with community to incorporate scientific findings into decision- scientific peers. SCCWRP uses two primary metrics to making is for scientists to achieve consensus. SCCWRP quantify success in this area: facilitates consensus-building through: » Publication rate » Citation rate » Leadership » Collaboration Publishing prolifically Whereas the number of Attaining leadership roles External interactions, in scientific journals is publications quantifies with professional scientific especially in leadership an important measure productivity, citation rate organizations enhances capacities, often translate of scientific success, provides a measure of how SCCWRP’s opportunities for to collaborative scientific as these articles go widely read SCCWRP’s interactions and publications. The number of through a rigorous peer work is and the degree to consensus-building in the external organizations with review process. A robust which it is influencing other aquatic sciences. which SCCWRP coauthors publication rate scientists. SCCWRP’s goal scientific publications is a engenders credibility for is for other scientists to Accomplishment reflect of SCCWRP’s success SCCWRP in the broader reference SCCWRP’s work SCCWRP scientific staff in building consensus. scientific community. when publishing their own. held 115 leadership roles with professional Accomplishment Accomplishment Accomplishment societies, advisory SCCWRP published SCCWRP scientific staff SCCWRP publications committees, and scientific articles published an average were cited 22% more scientific journals in and reports with 114 of 3.1 journal articles frequently in 2016 2016. Page 63 different institutions in each per year over the than the average for 2016. Page 27 past three years. This the aquatic sciences compares favorably discipline, and 2.6% of with the 2 publications SCCWRP publications in per year minimum that 2016 appeared in the top SCCWRP’s partners 1% of all articles cited in at academic research the aquatic sciences. institutions generally seek to achieve when being considered for promotion. Page 27 What SCCWRP seeks to achieve » Translate aquatic science research into management applications » Optimally position the water-quality management community to benefit from scientific research » Positively influence how aquatic systems are managed in Southern California and beyond 2 SCCWRP 2016 Annual Report Return to Table of Contents Management Long-term 3 influence 4 support Goal: Positively influence decision-making Goal: Provide technical support and expertise and actions by the end-user water-quality to SCCWRP’s 14 member agencies to maximize management community their adoption and use of science Scientific credibility and consensus-building are important While influencing management decision-making is a waypoints along SCCWRP’s journey to produce science that signature SCCWRP accomplishment, SCCWRP maximizes positively influences management. The three feature articles the effectiveness of this influence by providing long-term in this report illustrate how SCCWRP – as facilitator of the guidance and assistance to its 14 member agencies. Southern California Bight Regional Monitoring Program – helps the region’s water-quality management community » Training refine and evolve strategies to better protect Southern SCCWRP develops user-friendly California’s coastal ocean. instruction materials and conducts hands-on training to » Characterizing the issue ensure managers are properly SCCWRP helps Bight managers design robust environmental educated about new tools monitoring studies that illuminate potential threats to coastal and technologies. ecosystems, as well as document improvements over time. » Intercalibration » Developing tools and technology SCCWRP facilitates SCCWRP helps develop new approaches and methods to intercalibration and improve the speed, accuracy and cost of Bight monitoring. quality-assurance exercises to ensure managers can » Assessing effectiveness of management actions demonstrate proficiency using SCCWRP helps Bight managers craft strategies to gauge the new tools and technologies. effectiveness of their actions and to inform next steps. » Vetting Accomplishment SCCWRP facilitates case SCCWRP helped managers position studies and expert advisory Bight contaminant bioaccumulation committees to fully vet new data to be used as a key technical tools and technologies. foundation for an ongoing expansion of the State Water Board’s Sediment » Outreach Quality Objectives program. SCCWRP conducts outreach activities to ensure managers Accomplishment and stakeholders buy into and SCCWRP helped managers develop a fully embrace new approaches rigorous regional baseline for debris and technologies. across aquatic environments that can serve as a benchmark for evaluating SCCWRP prides itself on the long-term support it provides future success of new statewide trash to member agencies through programs like Bight regional reduction initiatives. monitoring. Accomplishment Accomplishment SCCWRP helped capture key data sets SCCWRP staff spent more than 6,000 person-hours in on Bight ocean acidification conditions 2016 providing implementation support for Bight ’13. that will feed into a West Coast ocean acidification model being built to improve managers’ understanding of how corrosive waters will impact coastal ecosystems. Return to Table of Contents SCCWRP 2016 Annual Report 3 Director’s Message Regional monitoring’s hidden value This year’s Annual Report is focused on outcomes of the Southern California Bight Regional Monitoring Program, which my Commissioners consistently tell me is SCCWRP’s most valuable endeavor. Through this 22-year-old initiative, environmental managers and researchers from across Southern California come together to evaluate their collective effectiveness as environmental stewards of our Bight resources. This regional assessment of condition, however, touches only the surface of Bight regional monitoring’s value. Our member agencies derive other less obvious benefits from their participation in this marquee program – hidden benefits that underscore the value of regional monitoring. Most prominent among these are the Bight program’s method standardization activities. The Bight program is a collaborative model, in which participants contribute field sampling and laboratory analytical capabilities instead of contracting with a single organization to do it all. As a result, we take steps to ensure that the data produced by these many organizations are comparable enough to be compiled into a unified data set; we do this through training, and then we verify with audits and laboratory intercalibrations. Field collection teams go through checkout cruises, and laboratories are required to process blind samples. Commissioners remind me that these studies serve to independently evaluate the quality of all data being produced by their lab and field teams, transcending the Bight program, which represents only a small fraction of
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Polychaetes Associated with a Tropical Ocean Outfall: Synthesis of a Biomonitoring Program Off O'ahu, Hawai'f
    Polychaetes Associated with a Tropical Ocean Outfall: Synthesis ofa Biomonitoring Program off O'ahu, Hawai'F J. H. Bailey-Brock,2,3,4,5 B. Paavo,3,4 B. M. Barrett,3,4 and J. Dreyer3,4 Abstract: A comparison of benthic polychaete communities off the Sand Island Wastewater Outfall was undertaken to recognize organic enrichment indicator species for Hawaiian waters. Primary-treatment sewage is discharged off the south shore of O'ahu at 70 m depth. A historical data set spanning 9 yr for seven sites at 70 m and two recent studies at 20, 50, and 100 m depths were analyzed. Geochemical data did not support the assumption that the outfall is an im­ portant source of organic enrichment in nutrient-poor sandy sediments within oligotrophic tropical waters. Five polychaete species, however, appeared partic­ ularly sensitive, positively or negatively, to environmental conditions near the outfall. Neanthes arenaceodentata (Nereididae) and Ophryotrocha adherens (Dor­ villeidae) have been dominant at sites within the outfall's zone of initial dilution (ZID). Since 1993, N arenaceodentata has virtually disappeared, and 0. adherens concurrently became abundant and continued to flourish at ZID sites. Well­ known indicators within the Capitella capitata complex (Capitellidae) were pres­ ent at ZID and control (far field) sites though their ZID abundance was greater. Two sabellids, Euchone sp. Band Augeneriella dubia were inversely distributed, the smaller Euchone sp. B at far field sites and larger A. dubia within ZID sta­ tions. The former was most likely restricted to a greater proportion offine sed­ iment particles at two far field sites.
    [Show full text]
  • Issues Brief: Ocean Deoxygenation
    DECEMBER 2019 OCEAN DEOXYGENATION • The oxygen content of the ocean has declined by around 2% since the middle of the 20th century overall, while the volume of ocean waters completely depleted of oxygen has quadrupled since the 1960s. • Ocean oxygen levels are expected to fall on average by 3–4% by 2100 overall due to climate change and increased nutrient discharges, though the scale of effect seen will vary regionally. • Consequences of ocean oxygen decline include decreased biodiversity, shifts in species distributions, displacement or reduction in fishery resources and expanding algal blooms. • Ocean deoxygenation threatens to disrupt the ocean’s food provisioning ecosystem services. • To slow and reverse the loss of oxygen, humans must urgently mitigate climate change globally and nutrient pollution locally. What is the issue? conditions. In 2011 there were around 700 reported sites worldwide affected by low oxygen conditions – Globally, oceans have lost around 2% of dissolved up from only 45 before the 1960s. The volume of oxygen since the 1950s and are expected to lose anoxic ocean waters – areas completely depleted of about 3–4% by the year 2100 under a business-as- oxygen – has quadrupled since the 1960s. Evidence usual scenario (Representative Concentration suggests that temperature increases explain about Pathway 8.5), though the scale of effect is predicted 50% of oxygen loss in the upper 1000 m of the to vary regionally. Much of the oxygen loss is ocean. concentrated in the upper 1000m where species richness and abundance is highest. Even slight overall reductions in the levels of oxygen dissolved in the oceans can induce oxygen stress in marine organisms by depriving them of an adequate oxygen supply at the tissue level (termed hypoxia).
    [Show full text]
  • Ecotoxicology of Estuarine Amphipod Paracorophium Excavatum
    E icolo fEstua ·ne Amphipod Paracorophium excavatum A thesis Submitted in partial fulfilment the requirements for Degree of Master of Science in Environmental Science at The University of Canterbury by Carol Wong Hee Ting University of Canterbury 1999 ABSTRACT The estuarine tube dwelling amphipod Paracorophium excavatum was investigated for its suitability as a bio-indicator and bio-monitor. Distribution patterns of P. excavatum were determined at 13 sites in the Canterbury region that differed in particle size distribution ranging from sandy to muddy sediment, with overall10w organic content. Low tide salinity ranged from 5 to 33 0/00 between sites and sediment moisture content ranged between 23 to 41 % moisture. Amphipods were absent from most sites within the Avon-Heathcote Estuary. The availability, life history and fecundity of P. excavatum were compared from intertidal mudflat sites in Brooklands Lagoon and Kairaki over a period of thirteen months. Four sediment core samples were collected at monthly intervals and P. excavatum IS population structure and life history pattern studied. The life history til· <: of P. excavatum can be characterised bY fast-growing, annual, iteroporous, bivoltine, females ovigerous throughout the year and thelygenous (female biased) population. P. excavatum showed relative consistency in abundance throughout the year with monthly densities ranging from 875.79 per 0.1 m-2 (July) to 1754.77 per 0.1 m-2 (December) at Brooklands Lagoon and 1031.83 per 0.1 m2 (November) to 1780.24 per 0.1 m2 (December) at Kairaki. There was a linear relationship between numbers of eggs per female and female length.
    [Show full text]
  • SCAMIT Newsletter Vol. 22 No. 6 2003 October
    October, 2003 SCAMIT Newsletter Vol. 22, No. 6 SUBJECT: B’03 Polychaetes continued - Polycirrus spp, Magelonidae, Lumbrineridae, and Glycera americana/ G. pacifica/G. nana. GUEST SPEAKER: none DATE: 12 Jaunuary 2004 TIME: 9:30 a.m. to 3:30 p. m. LOCATION: LACMNH - Worm Lab SWITCHED AT BIRTH The reader may notice that although this is only the October newsletter, the minutes from the November meeting are included. This is not proof positive that time travel is possible, but reflects the mysterious translocation of minutes from the September meeting to a foster home in Detroit. Since the November minutes were typed and ready to go, rather than delay yet another newsletter during this time of frantic “catching up”, your secretary made the decision to go with what was available. Let me assure everyone that the September minutes will be included in next month’s newsletter. Megan Lilly (CSD) NOVEMBER MINUTES The October SCAMIT meeting on Piromis sp A fide Harris 1985 miscellaneous polychaete issues was cancelled Anterior dorsal view. Image by R. Rowe due to the wildfire situation in Southern City of San Diego California. It has been rescheduled for January ITP Regional 2701 rep. 1, 24July00, depth 264 ft. The SCAMIT Newsletter is not deemed to be a valid publication for formal taxonomic purposes. October, 2003 SCAMIT Newsletter Vol. 22, No. 6 12th. The scheduled topics remain: 1) made to accommodate all expected Polycirrus spp, 2) Magelonidae, 3) participants. If you don’t have his contact Lumbrineridae, and 4) Glycera americana/G. information, RSVP to Secretary Megan Lilly at pacifica/G.
    [Show full text]
  • Climate-Driven Deoxygenation Elevates Fishing Vulnerability for The
    RESEARCH ARTICLE Climate-driven deoxygenation elevates fishing vulnerability for the ocean’s widest ranging shark Marisa Vedor1,2, Nuno Queiroz1,3†*, Gonzalo Mucientes1,4, Ana Couto1, Ivo da Costa1, Anto´ nio dos Santos1, Frederic Vandeperre5,6,7, Jorge Fontes5,7, Pedro Afonso5,7, Rui Rosa2, Nicolas E Humphries3, David W Sims3,8,9†* 1CIBIO/InBIO, Universidade do Porto, Campus Agra´rio de Vaira˜ o, Vaira˜ o, Portugal; 2MARE, Laborato´rio Marı´timo da Guia, Faculdade de Cieˆncias da Universidade de Lisboa, Av. Nossa Senhora do Cabo, Cascais, Portugal; 3Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom, The Laboratory, Citadel Hill, Plymouth, United Kingdom; 4Instituto de Investigaciones Marinas, Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Cientı´ficas (IIM-CSIC), Vigo, Spain; 5IMAR – Institute of Marine Research, Departamento de Oceanografia e Pescas, Universidade dos Ac¸ores, Horta, Portugal; 6MARE – Marine and Environmental Sciences Centre, Faculdade de Cieˆncias da Universidade de Lisboa, Lisbon, Portugal; 7Okeanos - Departamento de Oceanografia e Pescas, Universidade dos Ac¸ores, Horta, Portugal; 8Centre for Biological Sciences, Highfield Campus, University of Southampton, Southampton, United Kingdom; 9Ocean and Earth Science, National Oceanography Centre Southampton, Waterfront Campus, University of Southampton, Southampton, United Kingdom *For correspondence: [email protected] (NQ); Abstract Climate-driven expansions of ocean hypoxic zones are predicted to concentrate [email protected] (DWS) pelagic fish in oxygenated surface layers, but how expanding hypoxia and fisheries will interact to affect threatened pelagic sharks remains unknown. Here, analysis of satellite-tracked blue sharks †These authors contributed equally to this work and environmental modelling in the eastern tropical Atlantic oxygen minimum zone (OMZ) shows shark maximum dive depths decreased due to combined effects of decreasing dissolved oxygen Competing interests: The (DO) at depth, high sea surface temperatures, and increased surface-layer net primary production.
    [Show full text]
  • Ocean Deoxygenation and Copepods: Coping with Oxygen Minimum Zone Variability
    Biogeosciences, 17, 2315–2339, 2020 https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-17-2315-2020 © Author(s) 2020. This work is distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License. Ocean deoxygenation and copepods: coping with oxygen minimum zone variability Karen F. Wishner1, Brad Seibel2, and Dawn Outram1 1Graduate School of Oceanography, University of Rhode Island, Narragansett, RI 02882, USA 2College of Marine Science, University of South Florida, St. Petersburg, FL 33701, USA Correspondence: Karen F. Wishner ([email protected]) Received: 27 September 2019 – Discussion started: 28 October 2019 Revised: 31 March 2020 – Accepted: 2 April 2020 – Published: 24 April 2020 Abstract. Increasing deoxygenation (loss of oxygen) of compression concept). These distribution depths changed by the ocean, including expansion of oxygen minimum zones tens to hundreds of meters depending on the species, oxygen (OMZs), is a potentially important consequence of global profile, and phenomenon. For example, at the lower oxycline, warming. We examined present-day variability of vertical the depth of maximum abundance for Lucicutia hulsemannae distributions of 23 calanoid copepod species in the East- shifted from ∼ 600 to ∼ 800 m, and the depth of diapause for ern Tropical North Pacific (ETNP) living in locations with Eucalanus inermis shifted from ∼ 500 to ∼ 775 m, in an ex- different water column oxygen profiles and OMZ inten- panded OMZ compared to a thinner OMZ, but remained at sity (lowest oxygen concentration and its vertical extent in similar low oxygen levels in
    [Show full text]
  • Expression of Distal-Less, Dachshund, and Optomotor Blind in Neanthes Arenaceodentata
    Dev Genes Evol (2010) 220:275–295 DOI 10.1007/s00427-010-0346-0 ORIGINAL ARTICLE Expression of Distal-less, dachshund, and optomotor blind in Neanthes arenaceodentata (Annelida, Nereididae) does not support homology of appendage-forming mechanisms across the Bilateria Christopher J. Winchell & Jonathan E. Valencia & David K. Jacobs Received: 26 July 2010 /Accepted: 9 November 2010 /Published online: 30 November 2010 # The Author(s) 2010. This article is published with open access at Springerlink.com Abstract The similarity in the genetic regulation of mesoderm. Domains of omb expression include the brain, arthropod and vertebrate appendage formation has been nerve cord ganglia, one pair of anterior cirri, presumed interpreted as the product of a plesiomorphic gene precursors of dorsal musculature, and the same pharyngeal network that was primitively involved in bilaterian ganglia and presumed interneurons that express dac. appendage development and co-opted to build appen- Contrary to their roles in outgrowing arthropod and dages (in modern phyla) that are not historically related vertebrate appendages, Dll, dac,andomb lack comparable as structures. Data from lophotrochozoans are needed to expression in Neanthes appendages, implying independent clarify the pervasiveness of plesiomorphic appendage- evolution of annelid appendage development. We infer forming mechanisms. We assayed the expression of three that parapodia and arthropodia are not structurally or arthropod and vertebrate limb gene orthologs, Distal-less mechanistically homologous (but their primordia might (Dll), dachshund (dac), and optomotor blind (omb), in be), that Dll’s ancestral bilaterian function was in sensory direct-developing juveniles of the polychaete Neanthes and central nervous system differentiation, and that arenaceodentata.
    [Show full text]
  • Ocean Circulation and Climate: an Overview
    ocean-climate.org Bertrand Delorme Ocean Circulation and Yassir Eddebbar and Climate: an Overview Ocean circulation plays a central role in regulating climate and supporting marine life by transporting heat, carbon, oxygen, and nutrients throughout the world’s ocean. As human-emitted greenhouse gases continue to accumulate in the atmosphere, the Meridional Overturning Circulation (MOC) plays an increasingly important role in sequestering anthropogenic heat and carbon into the deep ocean, thus modulating the course of climate change. Anthropogenic warming, in turn, can influence global ocean circulation through enhancing ocean stratification by warming and freshening the high latitude upper oceans, rendering it an integral part in understanding and predicting climate over the 21st century. The interactions between the MOC and climate are poorly understood and underscore the need for enhanced observations, improved process understanding, and proper model representation of ocean circulation on several spatial and temporal scales. The ocean is in perpetual motion. Through its DRIVING MECHANISMS transport of heat, carbon, plankton, nutrients, and oxygen around the world, ocean circulation regulates Global ocean circulation can be divided into global climate and maintains primary productivity and two major components: i) the fast, wind-driven, marine ecosystems, with widespread implications upper ocean circulation, and ii) the slow, deep for global fisheries, tourism, and the shipping ocean circulation. These two components act industry. Surface and subsurface currents, upwelling, simultaneously to drive the MOC, the movement of downwelling, surface and internal waves, mixing, seawater across basins and depths. eddies, convection, and several other forms of motion act jointly to shape the observed circulation As the name suggests, the wind-driven circulation is of the world’s ocean.
    [Show full text]
  • The Namanereidinae (Polychaeta: Nereididae). Part 1, Taxonomy and Phylogeny
    © Copyright Australian Museum, 1999 Records of the Australian Museum, Supplement 25 (1999). ISBN 0-7313-8856-9 The Namanereidinae (Polychaeta: Nereididae). Part 1, Taxonomy and Phylogeny CHRISTOPHER J. GLASBY National Institute for Water & Atmospheric Research, PO Box 14-901, Kilbirnie, Wellington, New Zealand [email protected] ABSTRACT. A cladistic analysis and taxonomic revision of the Namanereidinae (Nereididae: Polychaeta) is presented. The cladistic analysis utilising 39 morphological characters (76 apomorphic states) yielded 10,000 minimal-length trees and a highly unresolved Strict Consensus tree. However, monophyly of the Namanereidinae is supported and two clades are identified: Namalycastis containing 18 species and Namanereis containing 15 species. The monospecific genus Lycastoides, represented by L. alticola Johnson, is too poorly known to be included in the analysis. Classification of the subfamily is modified to reflect the phylogeny. Thus, Namalycastis includes large-bodied species having four pairs of tentacular cirri; autapomorphies include the presence of short, subconical antennae and enlarged, flattened and leaf-like posterior cirrophores. Namanereis includes smaller-bodied species having three or four pairs of tentacular cirri; autapomorphies include the absence of dorsal cirrophores, absence of notosetae and a tripartite pygidium. Cryptonereis Gibbs, Lycastella Feuerborn, Lycastilla Solís-Weiss & Espinasa and Lycastopsis Augener become junior synonyms of Namanereis. Thirty-six species are described, including seven new species of Namalycastis (N. arista n.sp., N. borealis n.sp., N. elobeyensis n.sp., N. intermedia n.sp., N. macroplatis n.sp., N. multiseta n.sp., N. nicoleae n.sp.), four new species of Namanereis (N. minuta n.sp., N. serratis n.sp., N. stocki n.sp., N.
    [Show full text]
  • 2.1 Global Evidence of Ocean Deoxygenation Lothar Stramma and Sunke Schmidtko
    2.1 Global evidence of ocean deoxygenation Lothar Stramma and Sunke Schmidtko 2.1 Global evidence of ocean deoxygenation Lothar Stramma and Sunke Schmidtko GEOMAR, Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel, Düsternbrooker Weg 20, 24105 Kiel, Germany SECTION 2.1 SECTION Summary • The global oxygen inventory has decreased by ~2% over the period 1960 to 2010, this finding is supported by regional time series data that indicate a continuous decrease in oceanic dissolved oxygen. • Ocean model simulations predict a decline in the dissolved oxygen inventory of the global ocean of 1 to 7% by the year 2100, caused by a combination of a warming-induced decline in oxygen solubility and reduced ventilation of the deep ocean. • Open-ocean deoxygenation is resulting mainly from a warming ocean, increased stratification and changing circulation which interact with eutrophication-induced hypoxia (oxygen concentration below ~60 to 120 µmol -1 O2 kg ) and biological activity in shelf regions. • Climate change related longer-term oxygen trends are masked by oxygen variability on a range of different spatial and temporal scales. • The decline in the oceanic oxygen content can affect ocean nutrient cycles and the marine habitat, with potentially detrimental consequences for fisheries, ecosystems and coastal economies. • Oxygen loss is closely related to ocean warming and acidification caused by CO2 increase driven by CO2 emissions as well as biogeochemical consequences related to anthropogenic fertilization of the ocean; hence a combined effort investigating the different stressors will be most beneficial to understand future ocean changes. Ocean deoxygenation: Everyone’s problem 25 2.1 Global evidence of ocean deoxygenation Global deoxygenation effects Consequences Continuous loss of global oceanic dissolved oxygen • First ecosystem changes can be observed, habitat content.
    [Show full text]
  • 8.1 the Significance of Ocean Deoxygenation for Mesopelagic Communities Brad A
    8.1 The significance of ocean deoxygenation for mesopelagic communities Brad A. Seibel and Karen F. Wishner 8.1 The significance of ocean deoxygenation for mesopelagic communities Brad A. Seibel1 and Karen F. Wishner2 1College of Marine Science, University of South Florida, Florida, USA. Email: [email protected] 2Graduate School of Oceanography, University of Rhode Island, Kingston, Rhode island, USA. Email: [email protected] Summary • Mesopelagic community structure is directly dependent on the availability of oxygen for aerobic metabolism. Diversity, abundance, distribution and composition of mesopelagic species are all influenced by variations in oxygen at both large and small scales. • Ocean deoxygenation will decrease the minimum oxygen content in the mesopelagic zone and cause oxyclines to shift vertically (i.e. expansion of the oxygen minimum zone (OMZ) core) in the water column. • A species’ ability to extract oxygen from sea water has evolved to meet specific oxygen demand. As a result, species do not have excess capacity, nor do they live in environments with excess oxygen relative to their evolved capacity; thus, they are susceptible to reductions in oxygen partial pressure and increasing temperature (which elevates metabolic demand). • Changes in temperature and oxygen profiles within the water column may therefore decouple or enhance competition among different mesopelagic zooplankton species and the larger predators that forage on them at depth by changing zooplankton abundances, distributions, and the depth of layers, and altering species composition and diversity. The biogeochemical cycles (i.e. the biological pump and microbial assemblages) that rely on the mesopelagic zooplankton community will be substantially altered. SECTION 8.1 SECTION Ocean deoxygenation: Everyone’s problem 265 8.1 The significance of ocean deoxygenation for mesopelagic communities Ocean hypoxia effect Potential consequences Decreasing oxygen partial pressure (PO2) in any • Reduced capacity for prey capture and predator habitat will reduce aerobic metabolic performance evasion.
    [Show full text]
  • Global Warming Can Lead to Depletion of Oxygen by Disrupting Phytoplankton Photosynthesis: a Mathematical Modelling Approach
    Article Global Warming Can Lead to Depletion of Oxygen by Disrupting Phytoplankton Photosynthesis: A Mathematical Modelling Approach Yadigar Sekerci 1 and Sergei Petrovskii 2,* 1 Department of Mathematics, Arts and Science Faculty, Amasya University, 05189 Amasya, Turkey; yadigar.fi[email protected] 2 Department of Mathematics, University of Leicester, University Road, Leicester LE1 7RH, UK * Correspondence: [email protected] Received: 12 May 2018; Accepted: 25 May 2018; Published: 3 June 2018 Abstract: We consider the effect of global warming on the coupled plankton-oxygen dynamics in the ocean. The net oxygen production by phytoplankton is known to depend on the water temperature and hence can be disrupted by warming. We address this issue theoretically by considering a mathematical model of the plankton-oxygen system. The model is generic and can account for a variety of biological factors. We first show that sustainable oxygen production by phytoplankton is only possible if the net production rate is above a certain critical value. This result appears to be robust to the details of model parametrization. We then show that, once the effect of zooplankton is taken into account (which consume oxygen and feed on phytoplankton), the plankton-oxygen system can only be stable if the net oxygen production rate is within a certain intermediate range (i.e., not too low and not too high). Correspondingly, we conclude that a sufficiently large increase in the water temperature is likely to push the system out of the safe range, which may result in ocean anoxia and even a global oxygen depletion. We then generalize the model by taking into account the effect of environmental stochasticity and show that, paradoxically, the probability of oxygen depletion may decrease with an increase in the rate of global warming.
    [Show full text]