Causes and consequences of changing ocean properties on polar ecosystems: the SROCC assessment.

Anne B Hollowed1, Michael Paul Meredith2, Martin Sommerkorn3, Sandra Cassotta4, Chris Derksen5, Alexey Ekaykin6, Gary Kofinas7, Andrew Mackintosh8, Jess Melbourne-Thomas9, Mônica Muelbert10,11, Geir Ottersen12, Hamish D Pritchard2, Edward Schuur13, Shengping He14 and Victoria L Peck2, (1)NOAA, Alaska Fisheries Science Center, Seattle, WA, United States, (2)NERC British Antarctic Survey, Cambridge, United Kingdom, (3)WWF, Norway, (4)Aalborg University, Denmark, (5)Environment and Climate Change Canada, Climate Reseach Division, Toronto, ON, Canada, (6)Arctic and Antarctic Research Institute, Climate and Environment Research Laboratory, St Petersburg, Russia, (7)University of Alaska Fairbanks, Fairbanks, AK, United States, (8)Victoria University of Wellington, School of Geography, Environment and Earth Sciences, Wellington, New Zealand, (9)CSIRO Oceans and Atmosphere, Hobart, TAS, Australia, (10)Instituto do Mar (IMar), Federal University of São Paulo (UNIFESP), São Paulo, United States, (11)Institute of Marine and Antarctic Studies (IMAS), University of Tasmania, Hobart, TAS, Australia, (12)Institute of Marine Research, Norway, (13)Northern Arizona University, Department of Biology, Flagstaff, AZ, United States, (14)Bjerknes Centre for Climate Research, Bergen, Norway
Abstract:
The consequences of climate change on Arctic and Antarctic systems are discussed in the Polar chapter of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Special Report on Oceans and Cryosphere in a Changing Climate. This talk will present the key findings from the Polar Regions chapter with respect to marine ecosystems. This paper complements presentations on physical (sea ice and ocean) change and human responses to polar change. It will synthesize the consequences of changing ocean conditions for phytoplankton and zooplankton, benthic ecosystems, fish and krill, marine mammals and birds, and pelagic food webs in the Arctic and Southern Oceans. Linkages between sea ice and ocean habitat change on the physiology, behavior, life history and phenology of selected Arctic and Southern Ocean species will be presented. It will assess the evidence for current and future range shifts of selected species in response to climate change.