A special issue of the journal Deep Sea Research II available online documents
how Bering Sea fish, birds and marine mammals are changing how they eat, bear their
young and make their homes in response to changes in sea ice extent and duration.
The work represents newly published findings from a partnership between the NOAA
Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory, NOAA Alaska Fisheries Science Center, the
Joint Institute for the Study of the Atmosphere and Ocean at the University of Washington,
and several other academic and federal partners.
Because Alaska waters host some of the most commercially
valuable US fisheries, scientists hope that understanding the role natural and human-influenced
variations in temperature, nutrients, sea ice and other factors play in the ecosystem
will enable better predictions of climate impacts that affect the economy and people
of the region.
Measurements made during the six-year NOAA study show
a potential impact of climate change on species ranging from zooplankton to whales
living on the Bering Sea shelf. The study projects warming of southern shelf waters
will limit the distribution of Arctic species such as snow crab, while the distribution
and abundance of whales will change as their food source moves.
An electronic fish finder on an icebreaker was used
to provide the first comprehensive observation of fish in the ice-covered portion
of the Bering Sea. Researchers concluded that each winter, sea ice and the cold
water that comes with it force fish southeastward, out of their summer habitat.
Using similar electronic fish finders mounted on NOAA Fisheries survey vessels,
researchers documented a recent increase in krill, which Pollock eat, that coincided
with the end of a warm period and the start of a cold period in the eastern Bering
Sea.
The entire issue is online at www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/09670645/65
Articles must be purchased individually online from
the publication.
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