Energy Flow through the Marine Ecosystem of the

Lancaster Sound Region, Arctic Canada

Harold E. Welch, Martin A. Bergmann, Timothy D. Siferd, Kathleen A. Martin, Martin

F. Curtis, Richard E. Crawford, Robert J. Conover, Haakon Hop

In so far as it is known, using new data on primary production, zooplankton,

the bivalve Mya truncata, and arctic cod (Boreogadus saida), as well as
literature values for marine mammals and seabirds. The 98,000 sq km
region has a high rate of primary production relative to other parts of arctic
Canada. About 60 g C/sq. m are fixed annually, of which approximately 90%
is contributed by phytoplankton, 10% by ice algae, and 1% by kelp.
Phytoplankton production is twofold higher along the south coast of
Cornwallis Island than elsewhere in Barrow Strait. Four copepod species, of
which Pseudocalanus acuspes is the most important energetically, graze
about one-third of the phytoplankton production. Bivalves maintain high
biomass but low energy flow, acting as sedimenting agents. Arctic cod is a
major component, with 125,000 tonnes being consumed by marine
mammals and 23,000 tonnes by seabirds annually. Our hydro-acoustic
estimate for mean arctic cod density, 0.0022 fish/sq. m, is probably too low,
partly because we have been unable to quantify dense aggregations of
schooling fish. The ecological efficiency of ringed seal is near maximum, with
5% of ringed seal ingestion going to bears and man as seal flesh. The data
on total kill and prey consumption in whales and birds is incomplete because
they migrate out of the Lancaster Sound region in winter. The food chain is
very long, with bears occupying the fifth trophic level; this is reflected by
high biomagnification factors for persistent lipophilic pollutants such as
PCBs. There are major data gaps for some zooplankton and most of the
benthos, as well as for winter populations and energetics. This trophic
analysis is therefore incomplete and efficiencies for entire trophic levels
cannot be calculated.

http://arctic.journalhosting.ucalgary.ca/arctic/index.php/arctic/article/view/1413
Conserving Mangrove Ecosystems in the Philippines:
Transcending Disciplinary and Institutional Borders

Authors
Authors and affiliations
Joshua FarleyEmail author
David Batker
Isabel de la Torre
Tom Hudspeth

Humans are rapidly depleting critical ecosystems and the life support functions they provide,
increasing the urgency of developing effective conservation tools. Using a case study of the
conversion of mangrove ecosystems to shrimp aquaculture, this article describes an effort to
develop a transdisciplinary, transinstitutional approach to conservation that simultaneously trains
future generations of environmental problem solvers. We worked in close collaboration with
academics, non-government organizations, local government and local communities to organize
a workshop in Puerto Princesa, Palawan, Philippines. The primary objectives of the workshop
were to: (1) train participants in the basic principles of ecological economics and its goals of
sustainable scale, just distribution and efficient allocation; (2) learn from local community
stakeholders and participating scientists about the problems surrounding conversion of mangrove
ecosystems to shrimp aquaculture; (3) draw on the skills and knowledge of all participants to
develop potential solutions to the problem; and (4) communicate results to those with the power
and authority to act on them. We found that the economic and ecological benefits of intact
mangroves outweigh the returns to aquaculture. Perversely, however, private property rights to
mangrove ecosystems favor inefficient, unjust and unsustainable allocation of the resourcea
tragedy of the non-commons. We presented the workshop results to the press and local
government, which shut down the aquaculture ponds to conserve the threatened ecosystem.
Effective communication to appropriate audiences was essential for transforming research into
action. Our approach is promising and can be readily applied to conservation research and
advocacy projects worldwide, but should be improved through adaptive management
practitioners must continually build on those elements that work and discard or improve those
that fail.
Ecosystem Overfishing in the Ocean
Published: December 10, 2008
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0003881

Abstract

Fisheries catches represent a net export of mass and energy that can no longer be used by trophic levels
higher than those fished. Thus, exploitation implies a depletion of secondary production of higher trophic
levels (here the production of mass and energy by herbivores and carnivores in the ecosystem) due to the
removal of prey. The depletion of secondary production due to the export of biomass and energy through
catches was recently formulated as a proxy for evaluating the ecosystem impacts of fishingi.e., the level
of ecosystem overfishing. Here we evaluate the historical and current risk of ecosystem overfishing at a
global scale by quantifying the depletion of secondary production using the best available fisheries and
ecological data (i.e., catch and primary production). Our results highlight an increasing trend in the
number of unsustainable fisheries (i.e., an increase in the risk of ecosystem overfishing) from the 1950s to
the 2000s, and illustrate the worldwide geographic expansion of overfishing. These results enable to
assess when and where fishing became unsustainable at the ecosystem level. At present, total catch per
capita from Large Marine Ecosystems is at least twice the value estimated to ensure fishing at moderate
sustainable levels.

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Volume 7, Issue 3
March 2016
e01211
Open Access
Creative Commons
Article
 Detritivore diversity promotes a relative contribution
rate of detritus to the diet of predators in ponds
Authors
Kayoko Fukumori,
Erina Yoshizaki,
Noriko Takamura,
Taku Kadoya

First published: 14 March 2016Full publication history

DOI: 10.1002/ecs2.1211View/save citation
Cited by: 0 articles
Citation tools

Theory suggests that bottom-up effects of resource diversity to upper trophic levels increases ecosystem
functioning. In particular, energy flux from the detritus to other organisms in an ecosystem affects food
web dynamics. To our knowledge, no empirical studies have examined how detritivore diversity alters the
energy flux to upper trophic levels in a food web. Here we test the hypothesis that the greater diversity of
litter-consuming detritivores promotes energy flow between the resource and top predators in agricultural
ponds using stable isotope analysis. We found that the diversity and abundance of detritivores had a
significant positive effect on the relative contribution rate of detritus to the diet of predators, even after
confounding effects were controlled for. In addition, the number of functional feeding groups of
detritivores was significantly correlated with the contribution of detritus to the diet of predators, and
particularly, high functional diversity of detritivores increased the energy flow from the detritus to the
detritivores compared to the flow from the detritivores to the predators. It is likely that high functional
diversity within species induces complementarity effects on decomposition and this may be a potential
mechanism leading to diversity effects on the energy flow in detritus-based food web. Our study is the
first to demonstrate bottom-up effects of detritivore diversity on energy flow in food webs.
 Lake size and fish diversity determine resource use and
trophic position of a top predator in high-latitude lakes
Authors
Antti P. Eloranta,
Kimmo K. Kahilainen,
Per-Arne Amundsen,
Rune Knudsen,
Chris Harrod,
Roger I. Jones

First published: 23 March 2015Full publication history

DOI: 10.1002/ece3.1464View/save citation
Cited by: 9 articles
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Funding Information

Prey preference of top predators and energy flow across habitat boundaries are of fundamental importance
for structure and function of aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems, as they may have strong effects on
production, species diversity, and food-web stability. In lakes, littoral and pelagic food-web
compartments are typically coupled and controlled by generalist fish top predators. However, the extent
and determinants of such coupling remains a topical area of ecological research and is largely unknown in
oligotrophic high-latitude lakes. We analyzed food-web structure and resource use by a generalist top
predator, the Arctic charr Salvelinus alpinus (L.), in 17 oligotrophic subarctic lakes covering a marked
gradient in size (0.51084 km2) and fish species richness (213 species). We expected top predators to
shift from littoral to pelagic energy sources with increasing lake size, as the availability of pelagic prey
resources and the competition for littoral prey are both likely to be higher in large lakes with multispecies
fish communities. We also expected top predators to occupy a higher trophic position in lakes with
greater fish species richness due to potential substitution of intermediate consumers (prey fish) and
increased piscivory by top predators. Based on stable carbon and nitrogen isotope analyses, the mean
reliance of Arctic charr on littoral energy sources showed a significant negative relationship with lake
surface area, whereas the mean trophic position of Arctic charr, reflecting the lake food-chain length,
increased with fish species richness. These results were supported by stomach contents data
demonstrating a shift of Arctic charr from an invertebrate-dominated diet to piscivory on pelagic fish. Our
study highlights that, because they determine the main energy source (littoral vs. pelagic) and the trophic
position of generalist top predators, ecosystem size and fish diversity are particularly important factors
influencing function and structure of food webs in high-latitude lakes.