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Drivers of change in Arctic fjord socio-ecological systems: Examples from the European Arctic
- Robert Schlegel, Inka Bartsch, Kai Bischof, Lill Rastad Bjørst, Halvor Dannevig, Nora Diehl, Pedro Duarte, Grete K. Hovelsrud, Thomas Juul-Pedersen, Anaïs Lebrun, Laurène Merillet, Cale Miller, Carina Ren, Mikael Sejr, Janne E. Søreide, Tobias R. Vonnahme, Jean-Pierre Gattuso
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- Journal:
- Cambridge Prisms: Coastal Futures / Volume 1 / 2023
- Published online by Cambridge University Press:
- 13 January 2023, e13
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- Article
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Fjord systems are transition zones between land and sea, resulting in complex and dynamic environments. They are of particular interest in the Arctic as they harbour ecosystems inhabited by a rich range of species and provide many societal benefits. The key drivers of change in the European Arctic (i.e., Greenland, Svalbard, and Northern Norway) fjord socio-ecological systems are reviewed here, structured into five categories: cryosphere (sea ice, glacier mass balance, and glacial and riverine discharge), physics (seawater temperature, salinity, and light), chemistry (carbonate system, nutrients), biology (primary production, biomass, and species richness), and social (governance, tourism, and fisheries). The data available for the past and present state of these drivers, as well as future model projections, are analysed in a companion paper. Changes to the two drivers at the base of most interactions within fjords, seawater temperature and glacier mass balance, will have the most significant and profound consequences on the future of European Arctic fjords. This is because even though governance may be effective at mitigating/adapting to local disruptions caused by the changing climate, there is possibly nothing that can be done to halt the melting of glaciers, the warming of fjord waters, and all of the downstream consequences that these two changes will have. This review provides the first transdisciplinary synthesis of the interactions between the drivers of change within Arctic fjord socio-ecological systems. Knowledge of what these drivers of change are, and how they interact with one another, should provide more expedient focus for future research on the needs of adapting to the changing Arctic.
Cross-Chapter Boxes
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- By Jean-Pierre Gattuso, France, Ove Hoegh-Guldberg, Australia, Hans-Otto Pörtner, Germany
- Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)
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- Book:
- Climate Change 2014 – Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability: Part A: Global and Sectoral Aspects
- Published online:
- 05 January 2015
- Print publication:
- 29 December 2014, pp 97-166
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Summary
Coral reefs
Coral reefs are shallow-water ecosystems that consist of reefs made of calcium carbonate which is mostly secreted by reef-building corals and encrusting macroalgae. They occupy less than 0.1% of the ocean floor yet play multiple important roles throughout the tropics, housing high levels of biological diversity as well as providing key ecosystem goods and services such as habitat for fisheries, coastal protection, and appealing environments for tourism (Wild et al., 2011). About 275 million people live within 30 km of a coral reef (Burke et al., 2011) and derive some benefits from the ecosystem services that coral reefs provide (Hoegh-Guldberg, 2011), including provisioning (food, livelihoods, construction material, medicine), regulating (shoreline protection, water quality), supporting (primary production, nutrient cycling), and cultural (religion, tourism) services. This is especially true for the many coastal and small island nations in the world's tropical regions (Section 29.3.3.1).
Coral reefs are one of the most vulnerable marine ecosystems (high confidence; Sections 5.4.2.4, 6.3.1, 6.3.2, 6.3.5, 25.6.2, and 30.5), and more than half of the world's reefs are under medium or high risk of degradation (Burke et al., 2011). Most human-induced disturbances to coral reefs were local until the early 1980s (e.g., unsustainable coastal development, pollution, nutrient enrichment, and overfishing) when disturbances from ocean warming (principally mass coral bleaching and mortality) began to become widespread (Glynn, 1984). Concern about the impact of ocean acidification on coral reefs developed over the same period, primarily over the implications of ocean acidification for the building and maintenance of the calcium carbonate reef framework (Box CC-OA).
A wide range of climatic and non-climatic drivers affect corals and coral reefs and negative impacts have already been observed (Sections 5.4.2.4, 6.3.1, 6.3.2, 25.6.2.1, 30.5.3, 30.5.6). Bleaching involves the breakdown and loss of endosymbiotic algae, which live in the coral tissues and play a key role in supplying the coral host with energy (see Section 6.3.1. for physiological details and Section 30.5 for a regional analysis).