IMPACTS OF CLIMATE CHANGE ON SEABED ECOLOGY
Chris Frid
School of Biological Sciences, University of Liverpool
Executive Summary
The UK marine environment comprises a major part of the European sea area (around 7.6%, the second largest share of any member state) and it delivers significant benefits to the UK and European economies (around 5% of the UK GDP is marine related). Much of this is dependent on processes and resources associated with the seafloor.
The UK lacks any national programme to assess the state of the sea floor ecosystem (benthos). Limited data are available for intertidal areas of conservation importance and the National Marine Monitoring Programme network of sites covers estuaries and a limited number of nearshore stations with data runs over around 10 years. The two offshore (6 and 12 nautical mile) stations that are part of the Dove Time Series (an element of the MECN) represent probably the best benthic time series anywhere in the world, however they cannot provide the spatial coverage needed for a UK perspective of factors influencing sea floor ecosystem dynamics. The assessment is based on a recent major review of data for the wider North Sea (Clark and Frid, 2001) and analyses of the Dove series (Robinson, 2004).
Climatic processes, both directly, e.g. winter mortality, and indirectly, via later hydrographic conditions, influences the abundance and species composition of sea bed communities. This will directly affect the availability of food for bottom feeding fish such as cod and haddock, impact on shellfish populations (Nephrops and scallops/clams) and potentially alter patterns of biodiversity and ecological functioning. This could in turn alter rates and timing of processes such as nutrient cycling, larval supply to the plankton and organic waste assimilation. These relationships are visible in the only multi-decadal UK time series of sea bed ecology and so extension to other areas is on the basis of interference. At local (although still large) spatial scales there is also evidence of effects resulting from fishing impacts and at smaller scales habitat modification and impacts from contaminants.
Level of Confidence
LOW
Low for climate effects – we only have ONE data set which extends over more than 2 decades and it only covers 1 area. Medium for other impacts – a variety of studies have covered fishing, habitat and pollution effects at appropriate temporal and spatial scales
Key sources of Information
Please acknowledge this document as: Frid, C. (2006). Impacts of Climate Change on Seabed Ecology in Marine Climate Change Impacts Annual Report Card 2006 (Eds. Buckley, P.J, Dye, S.R. and Baxter, J.M), Online Summary Reports, MCCIP, Lowestoft, www.mccip.org.uk