Geoscience Reference
In-Depth Information
changes in where and how commercial fisheries take place (Domain 3 to Domain
2).
·
Early spring ice retreat and subsequent reduced primary production maxima at cur-
rent locations such as the sea ice edge will result in reduced downward transport of
biological material, and thus an impoverishment of benthic communities in places
such as the Chukchi and Barents Seas (Domain 3 to Domain 2 and vice versa) (cf.
Wassmann and Reigstad, 2011 ) .
·
The combined effect of these changes over time and space will be the creation of a
new ecological stable state in Arctic waters, exhibiting some characteristics of
today's Arctic and some of today's sub-Arctic, perhaps fundamentally different
from today's system, and accompanied by new, as yet non-existent species and the
loss of some current specialist species (within and across all four domains).
A potential set of outcomes is outlined in Table 5.1 . The observations made therein are
largely speculation based on careful consideration of current conditions, trends, models,
and expert knowledge. A coordinated, pan-Arctic programme of measurement, compar-
ison, process and experimental studies, modelling, and synthesis can allow the testing of
specific hypotheses across the four domains described therein, particularly with regard to
cross-scale interactions, connected with a set of overall hypotheses such as we have pro-
posed. The relationships across domains, essential in the concept of panarchy, are of critic-
al importance in understanding exactly how change will be propagated through the system
and remain under-studied.
Search WWH ::




Custom Search