Decades of dietary data demonstrate regional food web structures in the Southern Ocean

McCormack, Stacey A.; Melbourne‐Thomas, Jessica; Trebilco, Rowan; Blanchard, Julia L.; Raymond, Ben; Constable, Andrew J.

doi:10.1002/ece3.7017

Cited by 18 publications

(15 citation statements)

References 55 publications

(108 reference statements)

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“…One of the most common descriptions of food web structure and function is the relative importance of various species and trophic relationships in dictating how energy flows through an ecosystem (i.e., energy pathways). Multiple studies have described the various energy pathways that exist within Southern Ocean ecosystems, with their dominance varying across regions and between seasons (Ballerini et al, 2014;Suprenand and Ainsworth, 2017;Dahood et al, 2019;McCormack et al, 2019bMcCormack et al, , 2020Hill et al, 2021).…”

Section: Characterising Southern Ocean Food Websmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The food chain from phytoplankton through Antarctic krill (Euphausia superba) to various marine mammal and bird species is typically dominant in Antarctic food webs (Hill et al, 2006;Murphy et al, 2012;McCormack et al, 2020). This represents an efficient energy pathway from primary producers to higher trophic levels, with the potential to sustain a large biomass (Clarke, 1985).…”

Section: Characterising Southern Ocean Food Websmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In addition to the archetypal krill pathway, alternative pathways exist for this transfer of energy to top predators; these pathways sustain other predators less reliant on krill, notably toothfish, toothed whales, and a number of seals, penguins, and flying birds (Figure 2A; Atkinson et al, 2004;Murphy et al, 2016;McCormack et al, 2019bMcCormack et al, , 2020Subramaniam et al, 2020a), or provide alternative pathways to the suite of krill dependent predators (e.g., Saunders et al, 2019). Various studies have emphasised the importance of these alternative configurations for energy flow, usually involving various combinations of other zooplankton, fish, and squid species (Ballerini et al, 2014;Suprenand and Ainsworth, 2017;Dahood et al, 2019;McCormack et al, 2019b).…”

Section: Characterising Southern Ocean Food Websmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…There is also, however, a high degree of connectivity among regions as a result of transport in association with both ocean currents and sea ice drift along with the movement of organisms during development, foraging and migration (Figure 2B; see also Murphy et al, 2012;Thorpe et al, 2019;Treasure et al, 2019). This combination of variability and openness of ecosystems across multiple scales challenges simple definitions of regional boundaries between food webs, and hence also characterisation of the structure of food webs (McCormack et al, 2020).…”

Section: Characterising Southern Ocean Food Websmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Southern Ocean marine ecosystems support globally important values and services such as the sequestration of atmospheric carbon, commercial fisheries, polar biodiversity, the existence of iconic wildlife populations, and cultural connections (Grant et al, 2013;Cavanagh et al, 2021;Murphy et al, 2021;Roberts et al, 2021). These unique ecosystems and the services they support are underpinned by the structure, function, and dynamics of complex interconnected and regionally distinctive food webs (McCormack et al, 2020;Hill et al, 2021). Food web structure can be understood in terms of energy transfer and biomass flow between different components of the ecosystem, either flowing from primary producers to top predators in the pelagos or exported to the benthos through the sinking of detritus and dead organisms as well as through active transport, thereby serving as an energy source for many benthic organisms (Isla et al, 2006).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Southern Ocean Food Web Modelling: Progress, Prognoses, and Future Priorities for Research and Policy Makers

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Section: Characterising Southern Ocean Food Websmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Characterising Southern Ocean Food Websmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Characterising Southern Ocean Food Websmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Characterising Southern Ocean Food Websmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Southern Ocean Food Web Modelling: Progress, Prognoses, and Future Priorities for Research and Policy Makers

et al. 2021

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The economic tradeoffs and ecological impacts associated with a potential mesopelagic fishery in the California Current

Chapman

Koehn

Hoagland

2022

Ecological Applications

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The ocean's mesopelagic zone (200–1000 m) remains one of the most understudied parts of the ocean despite knowledge that mesopelagic fishes are highly abundant. Apex predators from the surface waters are known to consume these fishes, constituting an important ecological interaction. Some countries have begun exploring the potential harvest of mesopelagic fishes to supply fishmeal and fish oil markets due to the high fish abundance in the mesopelagic zone compared with overfished surface waters. This study explored the economic and ecological implications of a moratorium on the harvest of mesopelagic fishes such as lanternfish off the US West Coast, one of the few areas where such resources are managed. We adapted a bioeconomic decision model to examine the tradeoffs between the values gained from a hypothetical mesopelagic fishery with the potential values lost from declines in predators of mesopelagic fishes facing a reduced prey resource. The economic rationale for a moratorium on harvesting mesopelagics was sensitive both to ecological relationships and the scale of the nonmarket values attributed to noncommercial predators. Using a California Current‐based ecological simulation model, we found that most modeled predators of mesopelagic fishes increased in biomass even under high mesopelagic harvest rates, but the changes (either increases or decreases) were small, with relatively few predators responding with more than a 10% change in their biomass. While the ecological simulations implied that a commercial mesopelagic fishery might not have large biomass impacts for many species in the California Current system, there is still a need to further explore the various roles of the mesopelagic zone in the ocean.

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Massive circumpolar biomass of Southern Ocean zooplankton: Implications for food web structure, carbon export, and marine spatial planning

Yang

Atkinson

Pakhomov

et al. 2022

Limnology & Oceanography

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With rapid, sector‐specific climatic changes impacting the Southern Ocean, we need circumpolar‐scale biomass data of its plankton taxa to improve food web models, blue carbon budgets and resource management. Here, we provide a new dataset on mesozooplankton biomass with 2909 records spanning the last 90 yr, and describe, in comparable carbon units, their circumpolar distribution alongside those of phytoplankton, Antarctic krill, and salps. With our datasets, we estimate total summer carbon biomasses for phytoplankton (36 MT), mesozooplankton (67 MT), krill (30 MT), and salps (1.7 MT). The mesozooplankton value is much higher than previously reported and, added to that of krill and salps, points to an enormous overall biomass of zooplankton in the Southern Ocean. This means that the pyramids of biomass are often inverted, with higher biomass of zooplankton than of phytoplankton. Such high biomasses suggest key roles of grazers in nutrient cycling and we estimate an export of ~ 50 Mt C yr−1, solely from mortality of overwintering zooplankton that typically reside at depth. Deep lipid respiration (the lipid pump), for example, would increase this export even further. While inverted biomass pyramids prevailed at mid latitudes (50°–70°S), the balance of taxa differed regionally: for example, with biomass dominance by phytoplankton (highest latitudes and Pacific sector), mesozooplankton (Kerguelen Plateau), krill (north and east Scotia Sea), and salps (Crozet area). In light of contrasting climate change impacts between these sectors, we provide data that will underpin biogeochemical and food web models, blue carbon budgets, and the planning of marine protected areas.

show abstract

Decades of dietary data demonstrate regional food web structures in the Southern Ocean

Cited by 18 publications

References 55 publications

Southern Ocean Food Web Modelling: Progress, Prognoses, and Future Priorities for Research and Policy Makers

Southern Ocean Food Web Modelling: Progress, Prognoses, and Future Priorities for Research and Policy Makers

The economic tradeoffs and ecological impacts associated with a potential mesopelagic fishery in the California Current

Massive circumpolar biomass of Southern Ocean zooplankton: Implications for food web structure, carbon export, and marine spatial planning

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