Webpages tagged with «Trophic interactions»

The Arctic is rapidly changing. The reduction of the sea-ice extent of the northern part of the Barents Sea is affecting the interactions between key fish species in this ecosystem. In a work published in The Proceedings of the Royal Society,  Durant et al. studied the impact of these environmental changes on predator-prey relationships between cod, capelin and polar cod and ecosystem balance.

Statistical analyses of long-term monitoring data reveal an inverse relationship between the biomasses of zooplankton and plankton-eating fish, but only in the northern and central parts of the Barents Sea. In the southwestern Barents Sea, so such relationship is found.

Understanding the interaction between species is particularly actual in marine systems where ecosystem approach of  management is desirable. This is particularly the case in high latitude systems such as the Barents Sea where climate change effect is supposed to be the strongest.