Ecosystem characteristics and processes facilitating persistent macrobenthic biomass hotspots and associated benthivory in the Pacific Arctic

Grebmeier, Jacqueline M.; Bluhm, Bodil A.; Cooper, Lee W.; Danielson, Seth L.; Arrigo, Kevin R.; Blanchard, Arny L.; Clarke, Janet T.; Day, Robert H.; Frey, Karen E.; Gradinger, Rolf; Kędra, Monika; Konar, Brenda; Kuletz, Kathy J.; Lee, Sang H.; Lovvorn, James R.; Norcross, Brenda L.; Okkonen, Stephen R.

doi:10.1016/j.pocean.2015.05.006

Cited by 222 publications

(276 citation statements)

References 124 publications

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“…Pelagic organic matter, including living Bering Sea plankton, is advected through Bering Strait into the Chukchi Sea. The ultimate distribution of this material is then controlled by bathymetricallysteered currents, resulting in deposition centers in depressions on the shelf (Dunton et al, 2005;Grebmeier et al, 2006aGrebmeier et al, , 2015 and off the Arctic shelf (Clough et al, 2005;Grebmeier et al, 2006a). Both sediment properties (organic content) and benthic community structure and function (biomass, carbon remineralization, and bioturbation) reflect these spatial patterns (e.g.…”

Section: Impacts Of Advection On Arctic Benthosmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Advection also has strong impacts on shelf-canyon systems that steer organic matter, produced or initially deposited on the shelves, into the deep basin. Barrow Canyon, for example, exhibits an enriched benthic community structure and function (Clough et al, 2005;Dunton et al, 2006;Grebmeier et al, 2006aGrebmeier et al, , 2015 due to its role in focusing transport of organic material (e.g., Moran et al, 2005).…”

Section: Impacts Of Advection On Arctic Benthosmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Advection in polar and sub-polar environments: Impacts on high latitude marine ecosystems

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Arrigo

et al. 2016

Progress in Oceanography

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a b s t r a c tWe compare and contrast the ecological impacts of atmospheric and oceanic circulation patterns on polar and sub-polar marine ecosystems. Circulation patterns differ strikingly between the north and south. Meridional circulation in the north provides connections between the sub-Arctic and Arctic despite the presence of encircling continental landmasses, whereas annular circulation patterns in the south tend to isolate Antarctic surface waters from those in the north. These differences influence fundamental aspects of the polar ecosystems from the amount, thickness and duration of sea ice, to the types of organisms, and the ecology of zooplankton, fish, seabirds and marine mammals. Meridional flows in both the North Pacific and the North Atlantic oceans transport heat, nutrients, and plankton northward into the Chukchi Sea, the Barents Sea, and the seas off the west coast of Greenland. In the North Atlantic, the advected heat warms the waters of the southern Barents Sea and, with advected nutrients and plankton, supports immense biomasses of fish, seabirds and marine mammals. On the Pacific side of the Arctic, cold waters flowing northward across the northern Bering and Chukchi seas during winter and spring limit the ability of boreal fish species to take advantage of high seasonal production there. Southward flow of cold Arctic waters into sub-Arctic regions of the North Atlantic occurs mainly through Fram Strait with less through the Barents Sea and the Canadian Archipelago. In the Pacific, the transport of Arctic waters and plankton southward through Bering Strait is minimal.In the Southern Ocean, the Antarctic Circumpolar Current and its associated fronts are barriers to the southward dispersal of plankton and pelagic fishes from sub-Antarctic waters, with the consequent evolution of Antarctic zooplankton and fish species largely occurring in isolation from those to the north. The Antarctic Circumpolar Current also disperses biota throughout the Southern Ocean, and as a result, the biota tends to be similar within a given broad latitudinal band. South of the Southern Boundary of the ACC, there is a large-scale divergence that brings nutrient-rich water to the surface. This divergence, along with more localized upwelling regions and deep vertical convection in winter, generates elevated nutrient levels throughout the Antarctic at the end of austral winter. However, such elevated nutrient levels do not support elevated phytoplankton productivity through the entire Southern Ocean, as iron concentrations are rapidly removed to limiting levels by spring blooms in deep waters. However, coastal http://dx

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Section: Impacts Of Advection On Arctic Benthosmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Impacts Of Advection On Arctic Benthosmentioning

confidence: 99%

Advection in polar and sub-polar environments: Impacts on high latitude marine ecosystems

Hunt

Drinkwater

Arrigo

et al. 2016

Progress in Oceanography

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“…The water masses of Pacific origin flowing northwards toward the Arctic Basin include: the narrow, surface-intensified, nutrient-poor, warm, and fresher (\31.8) Alaska Coastal Water (ACW) along the Alaskan coast, the nutrient-rich and more saline ([32.5) Anadyr Water (AW) near the Siberian coast, and the moderately warm, intermediate saline (31.8-32.5) Bering Shelf Water (BSW) in between (Coachman et al 1975;Woodgate et al 2005a, b;Grebmeier et al 2006). Nutrients and algal production, organic carbon, zooplankton, and hydrographic properties are redistributed by these water masses from the Bering slope and the central Bering shelf into the northern Bering and Chukchi seas, and further into the Arctic Ocean (Walsh et al 1989;Weingartner et al 2005;Woodgate et al 2012;Grebmeier et al 2015;Lowry et al 2015). The hydrography of these water masses controls the intensity of primary production in the region (Walsh et al 1989).…”

Section: Study Areamentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Production is also low in the western Beaufort Sea, with some exceptions, such as in upwelling-induced algal blooms at the outer shelf/upper slope region Tremblay et al 2011). In these shallow shelf areas, much of the organic matter that is formed in surface shelf waters is either exported unconsumed to the seafloor and fuels productive benthic communities (Ambrose et al 2005;Grebmeier et al 2006Grebmeier et al , 2015Grebmeier 2012), or, having reached the shelf break, it is transported into the basin Moran et al 2005). Mud and muddy sands dominate in offshore sediments in the northern Bering, Chukchi, and East Siberian Seas, while finer silts and clays occur in the slope and basin regions (Grebmeier et al 2006;Grebmeier and Cooper 2014a;Pisareva et al 2015).…”

Section: Study Areamentioning

confidence: 99%

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Sipunculan fauna in the Pacific Arctic region: a significant component of benthic infaunal communities

2017

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The Sipuncula show low species diversity in the Arctic Ocean, but they often occur in very high numbers and biomass, and can dominate shelf benthic communities. We describe here the patterns of sipunculan diversity, abundance, biomass, and species distribution in the Pacific Arctic, and the relation of those patterns to controlling environmental factors. Five species (including two subspecies) belonging to two families and three genera are known to be present in Pacific-influenced Arctic waters. Although sipunculans were found at only about 30% of sampled stations, they constituted, if present, up to about 10% of the total macrobenthic abundance, and over 80% of the total infaunal biomass, particularly in many locations in the Chukchi Sea. The mean sipunculan abundance was 24.5 ± 155.9 individuals m -2 , with a maximum of 1745 individuals m -2 . The mean sipunculan biomass was 14.0 ± 73.8 g wet weight m -2 , with a maximum of 698.7 g wet weight m -2 in the northwest Chukchi Sea. The sipunculan abundances and biomass observed were related to latitude, depth, and sediment characteristics. The populations observed should be considered significant and characteristic components of the Pacific Arctic shallow shelf systems and food webs. This conclusion proves to be true also for other Arctic shelf seas like the Barents Sea, and deep Arctic ecosystems.

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Freshwater and its role in the Arctic Marine System: Sources, disposition, storage, export, and physical and biogeochemical consequences in the Arctic and global oceans

et al. 2016

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The Arctic Ocean is a fundamental node in the global hydrological cycle and the ocean's thermohaline circulation. We here assess the system's key functions and processes: (1) the delivery of fresh and low-salinity waters to the Arctic Ocean by river inflow, net precipitation, distillation during the freeze/thaw cycle, and Pacific Ocean inflows; (2) the disposition (e.g., sources, pathways, and storage) of freshwater components within the Arctic Ocean; and (3) the release and export of freshwater components into the bordering convective domains of the North Atlantic. We then examine physical, chemical, or biological processes which are influenced or constrained by the local quantities and geochemical qualities of freshwater; these include stratification and vertical mixing, ocean heat flux, nutrient supply, primary production, ocean acidification, and biogeochemical cycling. Internal to the Arctic the joint effects of sea ice decline and hydrological cycle intensification have strengthened coupling between the ocean and the atmosphere (e.g., wind and ice drift stresses, solar radiation, and heat and moisture exchange), the bordering drainage basins (e.g., river discharge, sediment transport, and erosion), and terrestrial ecosystems (e.g., Arctic greening, dissolved and particulate carbon loading, and altered phenology of biotic components). External to the Arctic freshwater export acts as both a constraint to and a necessary ingredient for deep convection in the bordering subarctic gyres and thus affects the global thermohaline circulation. Geochemical fingerprints attained within the Arctic Ocean are likewise exported into the neighboring subarctic systems and beyond. Finally, we discuss observed and modeled functions and changes in this system on seasonal, annual, and decadal time scales and discuss mechanisms that link the marine system to atmospheric, terrestrial, and cryospheric systems.

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Ecosystem characteristics and processes facilitating persistent macrobenthic biomass hotspots and associated benthivory in the Pacific Arctic

Cited by 222 publications

References 124 publications

Advection in polar and sub-polar environments: Impacts on high latitude marine ecosystems

Advection in polar and sub-polar environments: Impacts on high latitude marine ecosystems

Sipunculan fauna in the Pacific Arctic region: a significant component of benthic infaunal communities

Freshwater and its role in the Arctic Marine System: Sources, disposition, storage, export, and physical and biogeochemical consequences in the Arctic and global oceans

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