GreenBlue – A green-blue link made browner: how terrestrial climate change affects marine ecology (completed)

With climate warming, a widespread expectation is that events in spring, like flowering, bird migrations, and insect bursts, will occur earlier because temperature permits. What then, when data shows the opposite?

About the project

By extending published data series on Northeast Arctic cod spawning phenology, we found a gradually delay in spawning time by 40 days between 1877 and 1980, after which it started advancing. We have scrutinized potential changes in the Norwegian Coastal Waters, where cod spawn, including water temperature and spring bloom conditions. These are influenced by a changing climate involving warming and precipitation, but there is also a smoking gun suggesting links to terrestrial systems. Our preliminary investigation suggests continent-wide land-sea interactions of a scale such that warmer taiga in Russia makes the Baltic Sea browner, the Norwegian Coastal Water darker, and the spring bloom in Northern Norway later, which is what made cod spawn later, and not earlier, in warm water.

One potential cause-and-effect sequence that might link spring bloom conditions in coastal waters to terrestrial ecosystem is related to nutrient loading and the widespread, recent browning of lakes and rivers. While nutrient loading is primarily driven by agricultural practices, browning is also climate-driven via increased precipitation and air temperature, stimulating plant and forest growth. Exacerbated by land use change, this increases supply of dissolved organic matter (DOM) in lakes and rivers, which reduces water clarity (i.e. browning). Eventually, coastal water clarity is reduced directly (DOM) or indirectly (eutrophication), with consequences for plankton growth and, in turn, the timing of events such as the spring phytoplankton bloom and fish spawning. These changes have likely been reversed by warm temperatures since the 1980s, making future projections dependent on strong interactions between multiple drivers.

Objectives

We know that freshwater is getting browner and coastal water is getting darker. What we don't know is:

1) how closely these two independent observations are linked,
2) the ultimate drivers and, 
3) the ecological consequences.

Financing

The project 'GreenBlue – A green-blue link made browner: how terrestrial climate change affects marine ecology' is funded from the Research Council of Norway in the MARINFORSK –Marine ressurser og miljø-programme. The project number is 287490.

The project period for GreenBlue is from August 2019 to April 2023.

Cooperation

The project is led by University of Bergen, Department of Biological Sciences and will be done in collaboration with Department of Biosciences and Department of Geosiences both at University of Oslo.

Publications

  • Jessen, Henrik Høiberg; Opdal, Anders Martin Frugård & Enberg, Katja Susanna (2023). Life-history evolution in response to foraging risk, modelled for Northeast Arctic cod (Gadus morhua). Ecological Modelling. ISSN 0304-3800. 482. doi: 10.1016/j.ecolmodel.2023.110378.
  • Opdal, Anders Martin Frugård; Andersen, Tom; Hessen, Dag Olav; Lindemann, Christian & Aksnes, Dag Lorents (2023). Tracking freshwater browning and coastal water darkening from boreal forests to the Arctic Ocean. Limnology and Oceanography Letters. ISSN 2378-2242. 8(4), p. 611–619. doi: 10.1002/lol2.10320. Full text in Research Archive
  • Crapart, Camille Marie; Finstad, Anders Gravbrøt; Hessen, Dag Olav; Vogt, Rolf David & Andersen, Tom (2023). Spatial predictors and temporal forecast of total organic carbon levels in boreal lakes. Science of the Total Environment. ISSN 0048-9697. 870. doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2023.161676. Full text in Research Archive
  • Kaartvedt, Stein; Røstad, Anders; Opdal, Anders Frugård & Aksnes, Dag Lorents (2019). Herding mesopelagic fish by light. Marine Ecology Progress Series. ISSN 0171-8630. 625, p. 225–231. doi: 10.3354/meps13079. Full text in Research Archive
  • Opdal, Anders Frugård; Lindemann, Christian & Aksnes, Dag Lorents (2019). Centennial decline in North Sea water clarity causes strong delay in phytoplankton bloom timing. Global Change Biology. ISSN 1354-1013. 25(11), p. 3946–3953. doi: 10.1111/gcb.14810. Full text in Research Archive
  • Opdal, Anders Frugård; Brodeur, Richard D.; Cieciel, Kristin; Daskalov, Georgi; Mihneva, Vesselina & Ruzicka, James J [Show all 8 contributors for this article] (2019). Unclear associations between small pelagic fish and jellyfish in several major marine ecosystems. Scientific Reports. ISSN 2045-2322. 9(1), p. 1–12. doi: 10.1038/s41598-019-39351-7. Full text in Research Archive
  • Aarflot, Johanna Myrseth; Aksnes, Dag Lorents; Opdal, Anders Frugård; Skjoldal, Hein Rune & Fiksen, Øyvind (2018). Caught in broad daylight: Topographic constraints of zooplankton depth distributions. Limnology and Oceanography. ISSN 0024-3590. 64(3), p. 849–859. doi: 10.1002/lno.11079. Full text in Research Archive

View all works in Cristin

  • Hessen, Dag Olav & Opdal, Anders Martin Frugård (2023). Linking Forest to Fish: A Story of Coastal Darkening. SIL news (The International Association of Theoretical and Applied Limnology). doi: 10.5281/zenodo.8009398.
  • Opdal, Anders Martin Frugård; Andersen, Tom; Hessen, Dag Olav; Lindemann, Christian & Aksnes, Dag Lorents (2023). Tracking freshwater browning and coastal water darkening from boreal forests to the Arctic Ocean.
  • Narayanappa, Devaraju; Nilsen, Irene Brox & Falk, Stefanie (2021). Avskoging og den indiske monsunen ("Deforestation and the indian monsoon"). blogg.forskning.no- søkelys på skogplantning.
  • Narayanappa, Devaraju; Berntsen, Terje Koren & Stordal, Frode (2021). Simulated runoff and river discharge in CTSM version 5.1: Evaluation over Scandinavia.
  • Narayanappa, Devaraju (2020). Vegetation atmosphere interactions in earth system models.
  • Lindemann, Christian; Jørgensen, Christian; Fiksen, Øyvind & Aksnes, Dag Lorents (2020). Could long term shift in cod phenology be linked to terrestrial greening and coastal browning.
  • Opdal, Anders Martin Frugård; Lindemann, Christian; Fiksen, Øyvind & Aksnes, Dag Lorents (2020). Could long term shift in cod phenology be linked to terrestrial greening and coastal browning.
  • Aarflot, Johanna Myrseth ; Aksnes, Dag Lorents; Dalpadado, Padmini; Opdal, Anders Frugård & Fiksen, Øyvind (2020). Bathymetry Structures Predator-prey Dynamics between Zooplankton and Fish in Marine Pelagic Ecosystems.
  • Opdal, Anders Martin Frugård; Skjæraasen, Jon Egil & Jørgensen, Christian (2020). Fisk gyter ved bestemte temperaturer – atferd eller miljø.

View all works in Cristin

Published Mar. 29, 2022 1:46 PM - Last modified Dec. 15, 2023 10:52 AM

Participants

Detailed list of participants