Article
Environmental Sciences
Vasilis Gerakaris, Ioanna Varkitzi, Martina Orlando-Bonaca, Katerina Kikaki, Patricija Mozetic, Polytimi-Ioli Lardi, Konstantinos Tsiamis, Janja France
Summary: This study explores the coupled responses of benthic and pelagic primary producers to eutrophication pressures on a large scale, based on a large dataset from three Mediterranean sub-basins. The results show that increased nutrient concentrations in both seawater and the water column have negative effects on macroalgal communities. The study also highlights the regulating effect of light availability on the ecological status of seagrass meadows.
FRONTIERS IN MARINE SCIENCE
(2022)
Article
Environmental Sciences
Pasquale Ricci, Roberto Carlucci, Francesca Capezzuto, Angela Carluccio, Giulia Cipriano, Gianfranco D'Onghia, Porzia Maiorano, Letizia Sion, Angelo Tursi, Simone Libralato
Summary: Benthic-pelagic coupling refers to the combination of downward and upward flows of organic matter and nutrients between the pelagic and benthic domains mediated by trophic interactions. This study investigated the spatio-temporal variability of such flows in the Salento and Calabrian areas of the Northern Ionian Sea. The results highlight the important role of deep faunal communities in the BPC, which are influenced by temporal changes driven by the Adriatic-Ionian Bimodal Oscillating Systems (BiOS).
FRONTIERS IN MARINE SCIENCE
(2022)
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Irina Zhulay, Katrin Iken, Paul E. Renaud, Ksenia Kosobokova, Bodil A. Bluhm
Summary: Pelagic-benthic coupling refers to the connection between surface-water production and seafloor habitats through the exchange of energy, nutrients, and mass. The strength of this coupling was compared between 2005 and 2016 in the poorly studied Arctic Chukchi Borderland, with 2016 being a low-ice year. The results showed weaker coupling in 2016, with higher isotopic niche overlap and shorter isotopic distance between pelagic and benthic food web components.
SCIENTIFIC REPORTS
(2023)
Article
Environmental Sciences
Jian Zhao, Yan Wang, Wenjing Liu, Hongsheng Bi, Edward D. Cokelet, Calvin W. Mordy, Noah Lawrence-Slavas, Christian Meinig
Summary: The salinity variability in the Bering Sea is crucial for understanding oceanic processes such as sea ice melting, wind-driven currents, and river plumes. The Soil Moisture Active Passive (SMAP) satellite shows promising abilities in capturing the freshening signals during spring sea ice melting. The Yukon River plume plays a significant role in the salinity variability, and surface wind forcing is essential in shaping the seasonal cycle.
Article
Fisheries
George L. Hunt, Ellen M. Yasumiishi, Lisa B. Eisner, Phyllis J. Stabeno, Mary Beth Decker
Summary: This study examined the relationship between sea-ice cover and the abundance of Calanus copepods, jellyfish medusae, and year-class strength of walleye pollock in the eastern Bering Sea. Results showed that Calanus spp. were more abundant when sea ice lasted longer into spring and when February sea-ice cover was heavy. There was a positive correlation between pollock year-class strength and sea ice between 2000 and 2015. Copepod numbers positively influenced pollock recruitment, particularly in the middle shelf, while jellyfish biomass did not have a significant impact on pollock recruitment.
ICES JOURNAL OF MARINE SCIENCE
(2022)
Article
Microbiology
Ashleigh A. Currie, Alexis J. Marshall, Andrew M. Lohrer, Vonda J. Cummings, Sarah Seabrook, S. Craig Cary
Summary: This study compared benthic microbial communities under first-year sea ice (FYI) and multi-year sea ice (MYI) in two coastal habitats in McMurdo Sound, Antarctica. The results showed that legacy sea ice conditions influence the structure and composition of benthic microbial communities, reflecting changes in sea ice productivity and seafloor deposition. Under current climate-warming scenarios, major shifts in benthic microbial communities are likely to occur, with heterotrophic organic matter degradation processes becoming increasingly important.
FRONTIERS IN MICROBIOLOGY
(2021)
Article
Geosciences, Multidisciplinary
Jed E. Lenetsky, Mark C. Serreze
Summary: Utilizing statistically modeled ocean heat transports through the Bering Strait and other predictors, skillful predictions of sea ice retreat and advance dates in the Chukchi Sea have been successfully created. The models can explain a significant amount of variance in sea ice dates at one-month leads, but their accuracy decreases at longer leads, indicating some predictive value but with limitations.
GEOPHYSICAL RESEARCH LETTERS
(2021)
Article
Engineering, Marine
Stephanie Mangan, Andrew M. Lohrer, Simon F. Thrush, Joanne I. Ellis, Conrad A. Pilditch
Summary: Anthropogenic increases in nutrient delivery have fundamentally altered the biogeochemical cycling in the marine coastal zone, with potential ecological shifts. Long-term enrichment and ecological complexity have limited our ability to effectively manage and prevent these changes.
JOURNAL OF MARINE SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING
(2022)
Article
Environmental Sciences
Kai Ziervogel, Julia Sweet, Andrew R. Juhl, Uta Passow
Summary: The resuspension of deep-sea sediments can enhance the activity of extracellular enzymes in overlying waters, promoting organic matter breakdown and potentially affecting the degradation of petroleum hydrocarbons, including those from natural seeps. This study found that lipase activities were notably increased in overlying waters following sediment resuspension, suggesting a significant role of resuspended enzymes in the degradation of organic matter and hydrocarbons in the investigated area.
FRONTIERS IN MARINE SCIENCE
(2021)
Article
Ecology
Swagata Sinha, Arnab Banerjee, Nabyendu Rakshit, Akkur Raman, Punyasloke Bhadury, Santanu Ray
Summary: Benthic components play a critical role in aquatic ecosystems, specifically in shallow water systems through benthic-pelagic coupling. A food web model incorporating both benthic and pelagic food webs was developed and analyzed for Kakinada Bay ecosystem, India. Perturbation scenarios involving microphytobenthos and suspension feeding invertebrates were used to study the effects on system robustness and integrity. The study provides insights into how benthic components may affect the overall system health and resilience.
ECOLOGICAL INFORMATICS
(2021)
Article
Limnology
Elka T. Porter, Jeffrey C. Cornwell
Summary: Benthic and pelagic processes are closely connected in shallow-water environments, but simulating their coupling in mesocosm experiments is challenging due to difficulties in mimicking realistic water column and bottom turbulence simultaneously. However, studies on benthic-pelagic coupling mesocosm experiments highlight the importance of considering realistic physics in these experiments. Mesocosm approaches that accurately represent both water column and bottom turbulence can provide a better understanding of feedback processes associated with biogeochemical, food web, and habitat shifts. Such experiments can also address gaps in our knowledge regarding nutrient and organic matter fluxes between benthic habitats and the water column.
LIMNOLOGY AND OCEANOGRAPHY
(2023)
Article
Environmental Sciences
Florian Scholz, Jun Cheng, Zhouling Zhang, Paul Vosteen, Christopher Siebert, Martin Frank
Summary: Barium (Ba) isotopes can serve as a tracer for riverine freshwater input to the ocean and marine biogeochemical cycling. This study investigates the processes affecting Ba cycling in Kiel Bight, a fjord in the Baltic Sea. The results show that Ba concentrations and isotope ratios vary with depth and are influenced by mixing of freshwater and seawater, as well as biological processes and sediment-water interactions. These findings have implications for understanding nutrient dynamics and the isotopic balance of Ba in the ocean.
FRONTIERS IN MARINE SCIENCE
(2023)
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Remi Amiraux, David J. Yurkowski, Philippe Archambault, Marie Pierrejean, C. J. Mundy
Summary: The traditional view that the benthic compartment is simpler in structure compared to the pelagic compartment is challenged in this study, which illustrates the presence of a subweb in the benthic realm with similar complexity to the pelagic counterpart, including megafaunal-predatory sea stars equivalent to iconic polar bears.
PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
(2022)
Article
Geography, Physical
Savannah Worne, Zuzia Stroynowski, Sev Kender, George E. A. Swann
Summary: Sea-ice has been an important factor in climate change over millions of years, and a study of diatom assemblages in the Bering Sea reveals the significance of ice-sheet and sea-level fluctuations in controlling sea-ice evolution. The research also shows that sea-ice expansion is primarily influenced by the amplified Walker circulation and coincides with glacial maxima.
QUATERNARY SCIENCE REVIEWS
(2021)
Article
Oceanography
Steve Lund, Emily Mortazavi, Ellen Platzman, Matt Kirby, Joe Stoner, Makoto Okada
Summary: IODP Ex. 323 shipboard rock magnetic measurements of Quaternary deep-sea sediments from the Bering Sea revealed a bimodal distribution of magnetic intensity, with high intensity sediments associated with interglacial/interstadial times and low intensity sediments linked to glacial/stadial conditions. The high intensity sediments contain coarser magnetic grains from warmer intervals when more open water conditions permit sediment flux, while the low intensity sediments contain finer magnetic grains derived from sediment reworking during periods of permanent ice cover. The grain size variability is corroborated by magnetic hysteresis measurements and clastic grain size analysis.
DEEP-SEA RESEARCH PART I-OCEANOGRAPHIC RESEARCH PAPERS
(2021)
Article
Geosciences, Multidisciplinary
Jinyoung Jung, Kyoung-Ho Cho, Taewook Park, Eri Yoshizawa, Youngju Lee, Eun Jin Yang, Jong-Ku Gal, Sun-Yong Ha, Soobin Kim, Sung-Ho Kang, Jacqueline M. Grebmeier
Summary: The intrusion of Atlantic-origin cold saline water in the summer of 2017 was found to be an essential mechanism responsible for transporting Pacific-origin nutrients to the surface layer, leading to anomalously high surface phytoplankton blooms in the northwestern Chukchi Sea.
GEOPHYSICAL RESEARCH LETTERS
(2021)
Article
Marine & Freshwater Biology
Kathi A. Lefebvre, Evangeline Fachon, Emily K. Bowers, David G. Kimmel, Jonathan A. Snyder, Raphaela Stimmelmayr, Jacqueline M. Grebmeier, Steve Kibler, D. Ransom Hardison, Donald M. Anderson, David Kulis, Jim Murphy, Jeanette C. Gann, Dan Cooper, Lisa B. Eisner, Janet T. Duffy-Anderson, Gay Sheffield, Robert S. Pickart, Anna Mounsey, Maryjean L. Willis, Phyllis Stabeno, Elizabeth Siddon
Summary: Climate change-related ocean warming and reduction in Arctic sea ice increase the risk of toxic bloom caused by Alexandrium catenella in the Alaskan Arctic. This study quantifies the presence of Paralytic Shellfish Toxin (PST) in various organisms in the Arctic food chain, indicating potential health impacts on marine wildlife and humans. The findings raise concerns about increasing PST/STX exposure risks to Arctic marine mammals as ocean warming and sea ice reduction continue.
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Sue E. Moore, Janet T. Clarke, Stephen R. Okkonen, Jacqueline M. Grebmeier, Catherine L. Berchok, Kathleen M. Stafford
Summary: Changes in gray whale phenology and distribution in the Pacific Arctic are influenced by various factors, including prey availability, bottom water temperature, salinity, sea ice persistence, and wind patterns. The distribution of gray whales is associated with changes in prey abundance and localized wind patterns. The findings highlight the importance of understanding these factors for future research and conservation of whales in the region.
Article
Paleontology
L. Gemery, L. W. Cooper, C. Magen, T. M. Cronin, J. M. Grebmeier
Summary: Stable oxygen isotope measurements on calcitic valves of benthic ostracodes were used to examine ecological and hydrographic processes governing ostracode and associated seawater values. The results showed that the stable oxygen isotope composition was influenced by seasonality, regional hydrography, and physical processes. The study also found correlations between stable oxygen isotope values of certain species and temperature and salinity, which can be used to predict water-mass characteristics.
MARINE MICROPALEONTOLOGY
(2022)
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Clare B. Gaffey, Karen E. Frey, Lee W. Cooper, Jacqueline M. Grebmeier
Summary: The decreased sea ice cover in the northern Bering Sea has changed the annual phenology of phytoplankton due to longer open water duration and its impact on ocean stratification. Shipboard-based measurements are needed to provide more information on bloom dynamics, as satellite remote sensing has limitations in detecting bloom activity.
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Lee W. Cooper, Cedric Magen, Jacqueline M. Grebmeier
Summary: Research suggests that the freshwater flux through the Bering Strait into the Arctic Ocean has increased by about 40% over the past two decades, resulting in a change in the oxygen isotope composition of water in the upper halocline. This finding is consistent with other independent measurements.
Article
Geosciences, Multidisciplinary
Suzanne E. Tank, James W. McClelland, Robert G. M. Spencer, Alexander I. Shiklomanov, Anya Suslova, Florentina Moatar, Rainer M. W. Amon, Lee W. Cooper, Greg Elias, Vyacheslav V. Gordeev, Christopher Guay, Tatiana Yu. Gurtovaya, Lyudmila S. Kosmenko, Edda A. Mutter, Bruce J. Peterson, Bernhard Peucker-Ehrenbrink, Peter A. Raymond, Paul F. Schuster, Lindsay Scott, Robin Staples, Robert G. Striegl, Mikhail Tretiakov, Alexander V. Zhulidov, Nikita Zimov, Sergey Zimov, Robert M. Holmes
Summary: Rivers are sensitive indicators of watershed changes and regulate ecosystem function across the land-ocean continuum. A study on major Arctic rivers found that alkalinity and associated ion fluxes to the ocean increased significantly, while nitrate and other inorganic nutrient fluxes declined. Dissolved organic carbon fluxes showed no overall trend. This indicates disturbance of multiple land processes, with implications for coastal ocean biogeochemical cycling.
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Karen E. Frey, Josefino C. Comiso, Larry V. Stock, Luisa N. C. Young, Lee W. Cooper, Jacqueline M. Grebmeier
Summary: Massive declines in sea ice cover and warming seawaters have caused profound shifts in marine ecosystems in the Pacific Arctic region. The Distributed Biological Observatory (DBO) provides sampling infrastructure for this region and has identified significant trends in environmental variables, such as sea surface temperature and primary productivity. The length of the open water season strongly influences annual primary productivity in DBO sites.
Article
Paleontology
Laura Gemery, Thomas M. Cronin, Lee W. Cooper, Lucy R. Roberts, Lloyd D. Keigwin, Jason A. Addison, Melanie J. Leng, Peigen Lin, Cedric Magen, Marci E. Marot, Valerie Schwartz
Summary: A 2,000 year-long oceanographic history was reconstructed from a Canadian Beaufort Sea continental shelf site using various proxies. The records revealed temperature oscillations and changes in organic carbon cycling associated with the Medieval Climate Anomaly and the Little Ice Age. Changes in faunal and isotopic composition indicated variations in bottom water conditions, with the most significant changes occurring during the cooler period of the Little Ice Age.
Article
Oceanography
Seth L. Danielson, Jacqueline M. Grebmeier, Katrin Iken, Catherine Berchok, Lyle Britt, Kenneth H. Dunton, Lisa Eisner, Edward V. Farley, Amane Fujiwara, Donna D. W. Hauser, Motoyo Itoh, Takashi Kikuchi, Stan Kotwicki, Kathy J. Kuletz, Calvin W. Mordy, Shigeto Nishino, Cecilia Peralta-Ferriz, Robert S. Pickart, Phyllis S. Stabeno, Kathleen M. Stafford, Alex V. Whiting, Rebecca Woodgate
Summary: The ongoing scientific programs in the Alaskan Arctic continental shelves aim to monitor marine environmental and ecological systems and changes. These programs are a collaborative effort involving various organizations and institutions, providing rich information and extensive spatial coverage. They contribute to understanding the impacts of declining Arctic sea ice and warming water temperatures on ecosystems.
Article
Geosciences, Multidisciplinary
Lee W. Cooper, Jacqueline M. Grebmeier
Summary: Declines in seasonal sea ice have led to increased surface chlorophyll biomass in the Pacific Arctic region. However, shipboard observations in the Bering Strait region indicate that the relationship between open water periods and phytoplankton productivity is not straightforward. While a fall bloom was confirmed, no significant increase in chlorophyll-a was observed at the Distributed Biological Observatory (DBO) stations over a time-series extending up to 20 years coinciding with seasonal sea ice declines.
Article
Oceanography
Franz J. Mueter, Katrin Iken, Lee W. Cooper, Jacqueline M. Grebmeier, Kathy J. Kuletz, Russell R. Hopcroft, Seth L. Danielson, R. Eric Collins, Dan A. Cushing
Summary: The study indicates that the environmental changes in 2017, with higher Pacific water temperatures and salinity, resulted in shifts in the taxonomic diversity and species composition of eight different assemblages on the eastern Chukchi Sea shelf, including decreases in benthic species and increases in zooplankton and demersal fish. Seabirds in 2017 were unable to fully adjust to changing prey conditions, and there were unexplained pronounced differences in the taxonomic composition and a substantial decline in taxonomic diversity of bacteria and protists in 2017. Continued warming of the Chukchi Sea is likely to lead to further borealization with varying impacts on pelagic and benthic communities.
Article
Oceanography
Jason A. Law, Robert H. Weisberg, Yonggang Liu, Dennis A. Mayer, Jeffrey C. Donovan
Summary: Time series data from a moored array of sensors are used to describe the long-term mean circulation and seasonal variations on the West Florida Continental Shelf. The observations reveal a coherent shelf-wide circulation pattern with alongshore and down-coast flow, and a coastal jet separating an upwelling region from a downwelling region influenced by the deeper ocean.
DEEP-SEA RESEARCH PART II-TOPICAL STUDIES IN OCEANOGRAPHY
(2024)