The role of sustained observations in tracking impacts of environmental change on marine biodiversity and ecosystems - PubMed (original) (raw)

The role of sustained observations in tracking impacts of environmental change on marine biodiversity and ecosystems

N Mieszkowska et al. Philos Trans A Math Phys Eng Sci. 2014.

Abstract

Marine biodiversity currently faces unprecedented threats from multiple pressures arising from human activities. Global drivers such as climate change and ocean acidification interact with regional eutrophication, exploitation of commercial fish stocks and localized pressures including pollution, coastal development and the extraction of aggregates and fuel, causing alteration and degradation of habitats and communities. Segregating natural from anthropogenically induced change in marine ecosystems requires long-term, sustained observations of marine biota. In this review, we outline the history of biological recording in the coastal and shelf seas of the UK and Ireland and highlight where sustained observations have contributed new understanding of how anthropogenic activities have impacted on marine biodiversity. The contributions of sustained observations, from those collected at observatories, single station platforms and multiple-site programmes to the emergent field of multiple stressor impacts research, are discussed, along with implications for management and sustainable governance of marine resources in an era of unprecedented use of the marine environment.

Keywords: climate change; ecosystem; marine biodiversity; multiple stressors; sustained observations; timeseries.

© 2014 The Author(s) Published by the Royal Society. All rights reserved.

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Figures

Figure 1.

Figure 1.

Map of UK sustained observations of biodiversity: dark circles, MarClim survey sites; pale circles, continuous plankton recorder circles 2012 surveys. Black triangles: (1) Loch Hyne; (2) Port Erin; (3) Dove plankton; (4) Dove benthos; (5) Western Channel Observatory. Figure by Dr A. McQuatters-Gollop.

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