Marine Ecosystems And Global Change

Description: Global environmental change (including climate change, biodiversity loss, changes in hydrological and biogeochemical cycles, and intensive exploitation of natural resources) is having significant impacts on the world's oceans. This book advances knowledge of the structure and functioning of marine ecosystems, and their past, present, and future responses to physical and anthropogenic forcing. It illustrates how climate and humans impact marine ecosystems, providing a comprehensive review of the physical and ecological processes that structure marine ecosystems as well as the observation, experimentation, and modelling approaches required for their study. Recognizing the interactive roles played by humans in using marine resources and in responding to global changes in marine systems, the book includes chapters on the human dimensions of marine ecosystem changes and on effective management approaches in this era of rapid change. A final section reviews the state of the art in predicting the responses of marine ecosystems to future global change scenarios with the intention of informing both future research agendas and marine management policy. Marine Ecosystems and Global Change provides a detailed synthesis of the work conducted under the auspices of the Global Ocean Ecosystems Dynamics (GLOBEC) programme. This research spans two decades, and represents the largest, multi-disciplinary, international effort focused on understanding the impacts of external forcing on the structure and dynamics of global marine ecosystems. Table of Contents: Acknowledgements; Preface; List of acronyms; 1. Introduction: oceans in an earth system; SECTION 1 - THE CHANGING OCEAN ECOSYSTEMS; 2. Climate Forcing on Marine Ecosystems; 3. Human Impacts on Marine Ecosystems; SECTION 2 - ADVANCES IN UNDERSTANDING THE STRUCTURE AND DYNAMICS OF MARINE ECOSYSTEMS; 4. Dynamics of Marine Ecosystems: target species; 5. Dynamics of Marine Ecosystems: physical-biological interactions - integration and modelling; 6. Dynamics of Marine Ecosystems: observation and experimentation; 7. Dynamics of Marine Ecosystems: ecological processes; SECTION 3 - THE HUMAN DIMENSIONS OF CHANGES IN MARINE ECOSYSTEMS; 8. Interactions between Changes in Marine Ecosystems and Human Communities; 9. Marine Resources Management in the Face of Change: from ecosystem science to ecosystem-based management; SECTION 4 - A WAY FORWARD; 10. Ocean Ecosystem Responses to Future Global Change Scenarios: a way forward; 11. Marine Ecosystems and Global Change: a synthesis; References; Index