Production studies in the Mackenzie River ? Beaufort Sea estuary

Parsons, Timothy R.; Webb, Donald G.; Dovey, H.M.; Haigh, Rowan; Lawrence, Michael; Hopky, G. E.

doi:10.1007/bf00443455

Cited by 40 publications

(23 citation statements)

References 6 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…The structuring effect of freshwater runoff, with all features combined, on the biomass, productivity, and community composition of Arctic phytoplankton, zooplankton, and benthic taxa is reasonably well documented and outlined here, although some results are conflicting (Parsons et al 1988, Deubel et al 2003, Udalov et al 2005.…”

Section: Potential Future Scenarios For Arctic Marine Food Websmentioning

confidence: 64%

“…Similarly, minimum algal biomass (0.3 lg chlorophyll a/L) occurred close to the mouth of the estuary of Chesterfield Inlet in the Canadian Arctic, and maximum biomass (1.9 lg chlorophyll a/L) was observed near the estuary head (Roff et al 1979). In the MacKenzie River estuary, the planktonic community near the river mouth experienced high dissolved organic carbon pools, high bacterial activity, and high amphipod biomass, while the more productive offshore community consisted of copepods, medusae, and ctenophores (Parsons et al 1988).…”

Section: Potential Future Scenarios For Arctic Marine Food Websmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Regional Variability in Food Availability for Arctic Marine Mammals

Bluhm

Gradinger

2008

Ecological Applications

279

192

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Abstract. This review provides an overview of prey preferences of seven core Arctic marine mammal species (AMM) and four non-core species on a pan-Arctic scale with regional examples. Arctic marine mammal species exploit prey resources close to the sea ice, in the water column, and at the sea floor, including lipid-rich pelagic and benthic crustaceans and pelagic and ice-associated schooling fishes such as capelin and Arctic cod. Prey preferred by individual species range from cephalopods and benthic bivalves to Greenland halibut. A few AMM are very prey-, habitat-, and/or depth-specific (e.g., walrus, polar bear), while others are rather opportunistic and, therefore, likely less vulnerable to change (e.g., beluga, bearded seal). In the second section, we review prey distribution patterns and current biomass hotspots in the three major physical realms (sea ice, water column, and seafloor), highlighting relations to environmental parameters such as advection patterns and the sea ice regime. The third part of the contribution presents examples of documented changes in AMM prey distribution and biomass and, subsequently, suggests three potential scenarios of large-scale biotic change, based on published observations and predictions of environmental change. These scenarios discuss (1) increased pelagic primary and, hence, secondary production, particularly in the central Arctic, during open-water conditions in the summer (based on surplus nutrients currently unutilized); (2) reduced benthic and pelagic biomass in coastal/shelf areas (due to increased river runoff and, hence, changed salinity and turbidity conditions); and (3) increased pelagic grazing and recycling in open-water conditions at the expense of the current tight benthic-pelagic coupling in part of the ice-covered shelf regions (due to increased pelagic consumption vs. vertical flux). Should those scenarios hold true, pelagic-feeding and generalist AMM might be advantaged, while the range for benthic shelf-feeding, ice-dependent AMM such as walrus would decrease. New pelagic feeding grounds may open up to AMM and subarctic marine mammal species in the High Arctic basins while nearshore waters might provide less abundant food in the future.

show abstract

Section: Potential Future Scenarios For Arctic Marine Food Websmentioning

confidence: 64%

Section: Potential Future Scenarios For Arctic Marine Food Websmentioning

confidence: 99%

Regional Variability in Food Availability for Arctic Marine Mammals

Bluhm

Gradinger

2008

Ecological Applications

279

192

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…We note that Stn 7 is located near the head of the Kugmallit Canyon, a potential site of upwelling . Parsons et al (1988) also noted larger-sized zooplankton in the vicinity of Stn 7, a distribution that may be due to increased delivery of nutrients associated with canyon upwelling.…”

Section: Phytoplankton Productivitymentioning

confidence: 86%

“…First, the branch point described above for winter is missing in summer. Second, the summer mixing line is offset ~20 mmol m -3 lower in silicate than the winter line, suggesting silicate uptake by diatoms in the inner shelf domain (Parsons et al 1988, Hsiao 1996. In the middle and outer shelf, silicate values remain low in summer and thus suggest favoring of smaller phytoplankton, such as flagellates, over larger phytoplankton such as diatoms (cf.…”

Section: Nutrient Distributionsmentioning

confidence: 98%

“…Study area and location of Line C stations (1 to 10), the PAR measurement site in Tuktoyaktuk and the moored sediment trap at SS-2 tivity on the Canadian Shelf from nutrient uptake relationships; they compared a heavy ice year (1974) with a light ice year (1975) and found a reduction in new productivity of about 30% (16 and 23 g C m -2 yr -1 , respectively). Parsons et al (1988Parsons et al ( , 1989 reported on phytoplankton and zooplankton distributions in summer, noting significant regional differences in biological parameters. Specifically, 2 distinct communities were found: a heterotrophic riverine community characterized by high dissolved organic carbon, bacterial activity and gammarid amphipods, and a more productive, autotrophic offshore community characterized by phytoplankton, marine zooplankton and jellyfish.…”

Section: Abstract: Arctic · Nutrients · Primary Production · Shelfmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Phytoplankton productivity on the Canadian Shelf of the Beaufort Sea

Carmack¹,

Macdonald²,

Jasper³

2004

Mar. Ecol. Prog. Ser.

243

215

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

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

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

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.

show abstract

Production studies in the Mackenzie River ? Beaufort Sea estuary

Cited by 40 publications

References 6 publications

Regional Variability in Food Availability for Arctic Marine Mammals

Regional Variability in Food Availability for Arctic Marine Mammals

Phytoplankton productivity on the Canadian Shelf of the Beaufort Sea

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

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About