Sustainability Of Marine Ecosystems Research Articles

Ocean Advocacy in Discourse: Unpacking 'Seaspiracy' through an Eco-Critical Lens

<p><strong>The decrease in the wildlife population over the last 30 years was caused by various human actions, one of them was triggered by various writings and discourses spread in society. This study aims to analyze the narration of documentary film "Seaspiracy" by Netflix, focusing on the representation of marine destruction. This study examines the representation of marine destruction in the context of texts, discourses, social practices and an ecolinguistic perspective. A qualitative approach was used by combining ecolinguistics (Stibbé, 2015) and Critical Discourse Analysis (Fairclough, 1995, 2003 and 2013) and LSF (Halliday, 2014) to analyze the data in depth. The data used in this study comes from the 2021 documentary "Seaspiracy", produced by Netflix. The research findings reveal linguistic features, including metaphor, irony, and similes. Regarding grammar, humans, marine animals, and the unsustainable fishing industry were found as actors, goals and attributes. However, the highest ratio lies in animals as passive participants and fishing industry players as actors (active participants). The discourse practice shows that between Netflix and Ali Tabrizi shape the audience's perspective and understanding of environmental issues and the fishing industry. In sociocultural practice, this film raises environmental concerns to change public perceptions and encourage positive action in protecting the marine environment. From an ecolinguistic perspective, this study identifies the film "Seaspiracy" as a useful contribution due to its wide dissemination to ensure the sustainability of marine ecosystems. These findings can contribute to understanding how language and discourse shape perceptions and attitudes towards environmental issues</strong><em>.</em></p><p><strong><em>Keywords</em></strong> - <em>Eco-Critical Discourse Analysis, Film Documentary, Transitivity.</em></p>

The Resolution of Environmental Disputes among Traditional Fishermen in Gampong Sungai Lueng, Langsa, Aceh, Indonesia

Gampong Sungai Lueng (referred to in Acehnese) in Langsa is an area rich in mangrove ecosystems, which play a crucial role in maintaining environmental sustainability and supporting the livelihoods of local traditional fishermen. However, in recent years, this area has faced several environmental problems, including uncontrolled mangrove tree cutting, which poses a threat to marine ecosystems and the well-being of local fishermen. This research aims to address environmental disputes among traditional fishermen in Gampong Sungai Lueng, Langsa. The research method employed is a normative juridical approach. The research specifications are descriptive and analytical in nature. The sources and types of data encompass primary and secondary data. Data analysis is conducted qualitatively, given that the collected data are of a descriptive-analytical nature. The research findings regarding the resolution of environmental disputes among traditional fishermen in Gampong Sungai Lueng, Langsa, represent complex and significant challenges in endeavors to preserve marine ecosystem sustainability and environmental protection. The results of the initial pre-test indicate that there are participants with inadequate knowledge concerning environmental regulations, including the prohibition of coastal tree cutting or mangroves, as well as related criminal issues. However, the majority of participants possess a solid understanding of essential aspects, such as these prohibitions, dispute resolution through either mediation or litigation, and the legal consequences of engaging in vigilantism. Keywords: dispute resolution, mangroves, and traditional fishermen

Co-creating a sustainable blue economy for sweden

Co-creating a sustainable blue economy for sweden Wehn, Linders and Barquet explain how the MISTRA C2B2 programme is working to bring about transformative change in participatory ocean governance in Sweden. The ocean – the new frontier of human activity – is being redefined by new discoveries, technologies, national strategies, and ecological imperatives. Yet, it is undeniable that the status of most seas is in decay – and if the goal would be to restore or improve their status, then most human activities should be banned. Instead, we witness that, in recent years, the blue economy is promoted as an answer to energy and food insecurity, as well as to an increased demand for shipping of goods, and transport of people and services. So, humanity depends on marine livelihoods, but the blue economy is also rapidly increasing pressure on the long-term sustainability of marine ecosystems.

Connectivity-based approach to guide conservation and restoration of seagrass Posidonia oceanica in the NW Mediterranean

Marine population connectivity involves organism movement and interactions in oceanic and coastal settings. It is essential for biodiversity by aiding genetic diversity, species distribution, and recovery from disturbances. It guides resource management strategies like fisheries and conservation planning, ensuring marine ecosystem sustainability. Seagrass meadows play a pivotal role within coastal ecosystems, contributing to essential ecological, physical, and economic functions. Despite the presence of protective policies, a continuous decline of seagrass meadows has been observed in recent years due to the impact of human activities and climate change. In the Balearic Islands of the Mediterranean Sea, these pressures are further intensified by tourism, underlining the pressing requirement to prioritize areas for protection and restoration while considering the connectivity between habitat patches. In this study, the dispersal of Posidonia oceanica, the most widespread seagrass species in the Mediterranean Sea, from semi-enclosed bays and nearshore locations within the Balearic Islands archipelago, is investigated using a high-resolution hydrodynamic model and an individual-based model. The simulations were subjected to analysis through a graph-theoretic approach, revealing significant variations in dispersal probabilities across different years. Notably, Alcudia Bay emerged as a prominent sink, while critical links were identified between Menorca and Mallorca, as well as between Mallorca and Ibiza. This study underscores the value of dispersal modelling and network analysis in conservation planning for foundational species, particularly within a regional, integrated framework of conservation management.

Three decades of ocean warming impacts on marine ecosystems: A review and perspective

Ocean warming, primarily resulting from the escalating levels of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, leads to a rise in the temperature of the Earth's oceans. These gases act as heat-trapping agents, contributing to the overall phenomenon of global warming. In order to gain a comprehensive understanding of how ocean warming impacts marine ecosystems, a thorough literature review was conducted over a span of three decades, involving 2484 initial publications. The systematic literature review screening was facilitated by utilizing Abstrackr's web-based application to efficiently select relevant abstracts, resulting in a final list of 797 publications aligned with the study's objectives. Since the advent of the industrial revolution, greenhouse gas emissions have witnessed an exponential surge, leading to a cumulative increase in atmospheric temperatures at an average rate of 0.08 °C (0.14 °F) per decade since 1880. Over the past 50 years, the ocean has emerged as a primary heat reservoir, absorbing and distributing the majority of the Earth's warming, with more than 90% of the heat gain occurring within its waters. Between 1950 and 2020, the global sea surface temperature (SST) increased by 0.11 °C (0.19 °F). The consequences of ocean warming extend significantly to the environment and climate. It induces the expansion of the ocean, alters its stratification and currents, diminishes oxygen availability, elevates sea levels, and intensifies hurricanes and storms. It also affects marine species' physiology, abundance, distribution, trophic interactions, survival, and mortality and can also cause stress and consequences for human societies that depend on impacted marine resources. Ocean warming is projected to increase from 2 to 4 and 4–8 times under climate scenarios Shared Socioeconomic Pathways 1–2.6 and Shared Socioeconomic Pathways 5–8.5, respectively, with an additional 0.6–2.0 °C added by the end of the century. We summarize its impacts and detailed negative or positive responses on marine taxonomic groups. We also provide critical information to help stakeholders, scientists, managers, and decision-makers to mitigate and adapt while improving biodiversity conservation and sustainability of marine ecosystems.

Exclusive Economic Zone: Contemporary Law of the Sea Fisheries Regulations

The sea as an important area in a country must be able to be maintained both for state sovereignty and respect for sovereign rights. This is regulated in the jurisdiction of the territorial sea regime which applies sovereignty and the EEZ regime which applies sovereign rights. This research analyzes the background of agreements on international regulation of the sea and the utilization of fisheries which are also regulated in international law. The current international law of the sea only strictly regulates regional regimes and territorial jurisdiction, while the nature of fisheries cannot follow this. This research method is normative where international fisheries law arrangements still do not exist. The vacuum of international norms is only filled by weak international agreements and their implementation cannot be forced. The history of the current international law of the sea shows that the basis of the agreement is only related to territory and respect for maritime law in the form of international customs. It needs to be understood that the sea as a natural area must be used in a sustainable manner and also must not violate, so the marine potential, especially fisheries, needs to be agreed with strict sea area regulations and optimal utilization within the framework of the welfare and sustainability of marine ecosystems.

Sedimentary Vibrio Blooms in the Xisha Islands May Associate with the 2020 Coral Bleaching Event.

Coral reefs are among the most biodiverse ecosystems, providing habitats for various organisms. Studies on coral bleaching have been increasing recently, but little is known about the distribution and community assembly of coral pathogenic bacteria (e.g., several Vibrio species). We elucidated the distribution pattern and interaction relationships of total bacteria and Vibrio spp. in sediments from the Xisha Islands, which are characterized by their high coverage and diversity of coral resources. Vibrio spp. showed significantly higher relative abundance values in the Xisha Islands (1.00 × 108 copies/g) than in other areas (approximately 1 × 104 to 9.04 × 105 copies/g), indicating that the coral bleaching event of 2020 may have promoted the bloom of vibrios. A spatial shift in community composition was observed between the northern (Photobacterium rosenbergii and Vibrio ponticus) and southern (Vibrio ishigakensis and Vibrio natriegens) sites, accompanied by a clear distance-decay pattern. The spatial distance and coral species (e.g., Acroporidae and Fungiidae) had much greater correlations with the Vibrio community than did environmental factors. However, complex mechanisms may exist in the community assembly of Vibrio spp. due to the large proportion of unexplained variation. Stochastic processes may play an important role, as shown by the neutral model. Vibrio harveyi had the highest relative abundance (77.56%) and niche breadth, compared to other species, and it was negatively correlated with Acroporidae, likely reflecting its strong competitive ability and adverse effects on specific corals. Our study provides insights into the bloom and underlying assembly mechanisms of sedimentary vibrios in the Xisha Islands, thereby contributing to identify the potential indicator of coral bleaching and provide inspiration for the environmental management of coral reef areas. IMPORTANCE Coral reefs exert important roles in maintaining the sustainability of marine ecosystems but decline worldwide due to various drivers, especially pathogenic microorganisms. Here, we investigated the distribution pattern and interactions of total bacteria and Vibrio spp. in the sediments from Xisha Islands during the coral bleaching event of 2020. Our results showed that the abundances of Vibrio (1.00 × 108 copies/g) were high across the whole sites, indicating the bloom of sedimentary Vibrio spp. Coral pathogenic Vibrio species were abundant in the sediments, likely reflecting adverse effects on several kinds of corals. The compositions of the Vibrio spp. were separated by geographical location, which was mainly attributable to the spatial distance and coral species. Overall, this work contributes by providing evidence for the outbreak of coral pathogenic vibrios. The pathogenic mechanism of the dominant species (especially V. harveyi) should be comprehensively considered by laboratory infection experiments in the future.

An indicator-based approach to assess sustainability of port-cities and marine management in the Global South

Ports and neighbouring cities function as connectors between land and water and have long accommodated a substantial flow of goods and services. Port cities in the Western Indian Ocean (WIO) region and the Global South (GS) are rapidly and inevitably expanding as the demand for global trade increases. However, this expansion has numerous impacts on the surrounding marine ecosystem and the socio-economic livelihoods of local communities. We propose a framework to evaluate the sustainability of port cities in the WIO region and more broadly for cities in the GS. Through an exploratory approach, a systematic literature review (SLR) was undertaken to identify existing themes on port city and marine ecosystem sustainability indicator frameworks. The results revealed a strong bias towards sustainability publications designed for port cities in Global North. The approach developed from this study focuses on the socio-economic and environmental attributes relevant to ports in the WIO region and for GS countries. This draws from the Drivers, Pressures, States, Impacts and Responses (DPSIR) framework and includes 78 indicators. The indicators are designed to identify and report on the complex land and sea interdependencies of port cities. To test the validity of these indicators their interdependencies were examined through a Causal Network (CN) structure which identified 12 priority DPSIR CN. These were also mapped to the UNSDGs enabling the wider applicability and transferability of the framework. The resulting framework enables port cities in emerging economies to establish robust sustainable reporting systems and provides a framework that offers a unique lens for evaluating interactions embedded in the land and sea continuum.

Does environmental regulation improve marine carbon efficiency? The role of marine industrial structure

With the continuous increase of marine development, intensive economic activities have reduced the marine carbon efficiency and seriously damaged the marine ecological environment, which needs reasonable environmental regulations to guide. This study aims to examine the interactions between marine environmental regulation and carbon efficiency to achieve the goal of carbon emission reduction for the sustainability of marine ecosystem. This study empirically analyzes the heterogeneous effects and mediating effects of China's marine environmental policies on marine carbon efficiency using the mediating effects model and generalized moments estimation. The results show that there is a “U” shaped relationship between marine environmental regulation and marine carbon efficiency in China, marine environmental regulation can indirectly promote marine carbon efficiency through the transmission mechanism of resource allocation efficiency and structural optimization of marine industries. In addition, China's marine environmental regulation policies have regional heterogeneous effects on marine carbon efficiency. This study provides a new perspective for optimizing marine carbon efficiency and sustainable development of marine ecosystem.

Sulfated Polysaccharides from Macroalgae-A Simple Roadmap for Chemical Characterization.

The marine environment presents itself as a treasure chest, full of a vast diversity of organisms yet to be explored. Among these organisms, macroalgae stand out as a major source of natural products due to their nature as primary producers and relevance in the sustainability of marine ecosystems. Sulfated polysaccharides (SPs) are a group of polymers biosynthesized by macroalgae, making up part of their cell wall composition. Such compounds are characterized by the presence of sulfate groups and a great structural diversity among the different classes of macroalgae, providing interesting biotechnological and therapeutical applications. However, due to the high complexity of these macromolecules, their chemical characterization is a huge challenge, driving the use of complementary physicochemical techniques to achieve an accurate structural elucidation. This review compiles the reports (2016-2021) of state-of-the-art methodologies used in the chemical characterization of macroalgae SPs aiming to provide, in a simple way, a key tool for researchers focused on the structural elucidation of these important marine macromolecules.

Elevated CO2 reduces copper accumulation and toxicity in the diatom Thalassiosira pseudonana.

The projected ocean acidification (OA) associated with increasing atmospheric CO2 alters seawater chemistry and hence the bio-toxicity of metal ions. However, it is still unclear how OA might affect the long-term resilience of globally important marine microalgae to anthropogenic metal stress. To explore the effect of increasing pCO2 on copper metabolism in the diatom Thalassiosira pseudonana (CCMP 1335), we employed an integrated eco-physiological, analytical chemistry, and transcriptomic approach to clarify the effect of increasing pCO2 on copper metabolism of Thalassiosira pseudonana across different temporal (short-term vs. long-term) and spatial (indoor laboratory experiments vs. outdoor mesocosms experiments) scales. We found that increasing pCO2 (1,000 and 2,000 μatm) promoted growth and photosynthesis, but decreased copper accumulation and alleviated its bio-toxicity to T. pseudonana. Transcriptomics results indicated that T. pseudonana altered the copper detoxification strategy under OA by decreasing copper uptake and enhancing copper-thiol complexation and copper efflux. Biochemical analysis further showed that the activities of the antioxidant enzymes glutathione peroxidase (GPX), catalase (CAT), and phytochelatin synthetase (PCS) were enhanced to mitigate oxidative damage of copper stress under elevated CO2. Our results provide a basis for a better understanding of the bioremediation capacity of marine primary producers, which may have profound effect on the security of seafood quality and marine ecosystem sustainability under further climate change.

Unexpected high indirect impacts of riverine organic matter to coastal deoxygenation

Hypoxia has become a serious threat to the sustainability of marine ecosystems globally. As one of the leading components of eutrophication, river-delivered organic matter (ROM) regulates estuarine/coastal dissolved oxygen condition and contributes to hypoxia formation both directly via remineralization and indirectly via the nutrients released during remineralization. However, the impacts of ROM on the coastal environment have long been underestimated because the indirect contribution has been overlooked and left largely unknown. This study used the Changjiang River, the second-largest ROM source in the world, as a prototype. A coupled physical-biogeochemical model was used to explore the indirect contribution of Changjiang ROM to marginal sea deoxygenation and hypoxia formation. Here I show that ROM remineralization contributed 5.4% directly and 7.3% indirectly to the total oxygen consumption in the off-estuary hypoxic zone. The indirect contribution persistently sustained in a large part of the northwest Pacific marginal seas. Strict mitigation is required to manage the ecosystem impacts of deoxygenation. The findings of this study also indicate that river discharge, freshwater turbidity, and interactions between freshwater and shelf circulation are fundamental factors that regulate the contributions of ROM to hypoxia formation and shelf deoxygenation.

Ocean negative carbon emissions: A new UN Decade program

Ocean negative carbon emissions: A new UN Decade program

Google Earth Engine for Monitoring Marine Mucilage: Izmit Bay in Spring 2021

Global warming together with environmental pollution threatens marine habitats and causes an increasing number of environmental disasters. Periodic monitoring of coastal water quality is of critical importance for the effective management of water resources and the sustainability of marine ecosystems. The use of remote sensing technologies provides significant benefits for detecting, monitoring, and analyzing rapidly occurring and displaced natural phenomena, including mucilage events. In this study, five water indices estimated from cloud-free and partly cloudy Sentinel-2 images acquired from May to July 2021 were employed to effectively map mucilage aggregates on the sea surface in the Izmit Bay using the cloud-based Google Earth Engine (GEE) platform. Results showed that mucilage aggregates started with the coverage of about 6 km² sea surface on 14 May, reached the highest level on 24 May and diminished at the end of July. Among the applied indices, the Adjusted Floating Algae Index (AFAI) was superior for producing the mucilage maps even for the partly cloudy image, followed by Normalized Difference Turbidity Index (NDTI) and Mucilage Index (MI). To be more specific, indices using green channel were found to be inferior for extracting mucilage information from the satellite images.

Automatic Mapping and Monitoring of Marine Water Quality Parameters in Hong Kong Using Sentinel-2 Image Time-Series and Google Earth Engine Cloud Computing

Continuous monitoring of coastal water qualities is critical for water resource management and marine ecosystem sustainability. While remote sensing data such as Sentinel-2 satellite imagery routinely provide high-resolution observations for time-series analysis, the cloud-based Google Earth Engine (GEE) platform supports simple image retrieval and large-scale processing. Using coastal waters of Hong Kong as the study area, this study utilized GEE to (i) query and pre-process all Sentinel-2 observations that coincided with in situ measurements; (ii) extract the spectra to develop empirical models for water quality parameters using artificial neural networks; and (iii) visualize the results using spatial distribution maps, time-series charts and an online application. The modeling workflow was applied to 22 water quality parameters and the results suggested the potential to predict the levels of several nutrients and inorganic constituents. In-depth analyses were conducted for chlorophyll-a, suspended solids and turbidity which produced high correlations between the predicted and observed values when validated with an independent dataset. The selected input variables followed spectral characteristics of the optical constituents. The results were considered more robust compared to previous works in the same region due to the automatic extraction of all available images and larger number of observations from different years and months. Besides visualizing long-term spatial and temporal variabilities through distribution maps and time-series charts, potential anomalies in the monitoring period including algal bloom could also be captured using the models developed from historical data. An online application was created to allow novice users to explore and analyze water quality trends with a simple web interface. The integrated use of remotely-sensed images, in situ measurements and cloud computing can offer new opportunities for implementing effective monitoring programs and understanding water quality dynamics. Although the obtained levels of accuracies were below the desired standard, the end-to-end cloud computing workflow demonstrated in this study should be further investigated considering the cost and computational efficiency for timely information delivery.

A PCA-DEA-Based Model for Assessing the Sustainability of Marine Economy.

One of the most important and continuously growing research areas in marine ecology is assessing the sustainability of ecosystems. The concept is traditionally approached by quantifying different anthropogenic pressures, such as top-down effects, overexploitation, invasive species, overfishing, and pollution. However, this perspective has been criticized for its inability to capture the complex interactions between natural factors (such as climate change), human factors, and sociopolitical factors that shape ecosystems. In this paper, we present a new structural model for assessing the sustainability of marine ecosystems, PCA-DEA-based model, as an extension to current models that incorporates these key interfaces into dynamic system modeling by including trade-offs on horizontal scales (e.g., decision making).

A history and evaluation of catch‐only stock assessment models

AbstractUnderstanding the status of fish stocks is a critical step in ensuring the ecological and economic sustainability of marine ecosystems. However, at least half of global catch and a vast majority of global fisheries lack formal stock assessments, largely due to a lack of sufficient data. Catch data, loosely referring to any catch records be it inclusive of discards or not, are the only type of fishery data available across a wide range of fisheries at a global scale. This has given rise to a long list of so‐called “catch‐only” models, intended to estimate aspects of stock status based primarily on characteristics of a fishery's catch history. In this paper, we review the history, performance and potential of “catch‐only” models to estimate stock biomass status. While individual catch‐only models often report good performance, repeated efforts to examine the performance of these models have consistently found them to be imprecise and biased when applied to new data‐limited fisheries. We demonstrate that a large reason for this is the simple lack of information on stock status contained in the shape of a catch history alone. Off‐the‐shelf use of catch‐only models can lead to poor and biased estimates of stock status, potentially hindering efforts at effective management.

Establishing the Foundation for the Global Observing System for Marine Life

Maintaining healthy, productive ecosystems in the face of pervasive and accelerating human impacts including climate change requires globally coordinated and sustained observations of marine biodiversity. Global coordination is predicated on an understanding of the scope and capacity of existing monitoring programs, and the extent to which they use standardized, interoperable practices for data management. Global coordination also requires identification of gaps in spatial and ecosystem coverage, and how these gaps correspond to management priorities and information needs. We undertook such an assessment by conducting an audit and gap analysis from global databases and structured surveys of experts. Of 371 survey respondents, 203 active, long-term (>5 years) observing programs systematically sampled marine life. These programs spanned about 7% of the ocean surface area, mostly concentrated in coastal regions of the United States, Canada, Europe, and Australia. Seagrasses, mangroves, hard corals, and macroalgae were sampled in 6% of the entire global coastal zone. Two-thirds of all observing programs offered accessible data, but methods and conditions for access were highly variable. Our assessment indicates that the global observing system is largely uncoordinated which results in a failure to deliver critical information required for informed decision-making such as, status and trends, for the conservation and sustainability of marine ecosystems and provision of ecosystem services. Based on our study, we suggest four key steps that can increase the sustainability, connectivity and spatial coverage of biological Essential Ocean Variables in the global ocean: (1) sustaining existing observing programs and encouraging coordination among these; (2) continuing to strive for data strategies that follow FAIR principles (findable, accessible, interoperable, and reusable); (3) utilizing existing ocean observing platforms and enhancing support to expand observing along coasts of developing countries, in deep ocean basins, and near the poles; and (4) targeting capacity building efforts. Following these suggestions could help create a coordinated marine biodiversity observing system enabling ecological forecasting and better planning for a sustainable use of ocean resources.

Temperature increase drives critical slowing down of fish ecosystems.

Fish ecosystems perform ecological functions that are critically important for the sustainability of marine ecosystems, such as global food security and carbon stock. During the 21st century, significant global warming caused by climate change has created pressing challenges for fish ecosystems that threaten species existence and global ecosystem health. Here, we study a coastal fish community in Maizuru Bay, Japan, and investigate the relationships between fluctuations of ST, abundance-based species interactions and salient fish biodiversity. Observations show that a local 20% increase in temperature from 2002 to 2014 underpins a long-term reduction in fish diversity (∼25%) played out by some native and invasive species (e.g. Chinese wrasse) becoming exceedingly abundant; this causes a large decay in commercially valuable species (e.g. Japanese anchovy) coupled to an increase in ecological productivity. The fish community is analyzed considering five temperature ranges to understand its atemporal seasonal sensitivity to ST changes, and long-term trends. An optimal information flow model is used to reconstruct species interaction networks that emerge as topologically different for distinct temperature ranges and species dynamics. Networks for low temperatures are more scale-free compared to ones for intermediate (15-20°C) temperatures in which the fish ecosystem experiences a first-order phase transition in interactions from locally stable to metastable and globally unstable for high temperatures states as suggested by abundance-spectrum transitions. The dynamic dominant eigenvalue of species interactions shows increasing instability for competitive species (spiking in summer due to intermediate-season critical transitions) leading to enhanced community variability and critical slowing down despite higher time-point resilience. Native competitive species whose abundance is distributed more exponentially have the highest total directed interactions and are keystone species (e.g. Wrasse and Horse mackerel) for the most salient links with cooperative decaying species. Competitive species, with higher eco-climatic memory and synchronization, are the most affected by temperature and play an important role in maintaining fish ecosystem stability via multitrophic cascades (via cooperative-competitive species imbalance), and as bioindicators of change. More climate-fitted species follow temperature increase causing larger divergence divergence between competitive and cooperative species. Decreasing dominant eigenvalues and lower relative network optimality for warmer oceans indicate fishery more attracted toward persistent oscillatory states, yet unpredictable, with lower cooperation, diversity and fish stock despite the increase in community abundance due to non-commercial and venomous species. We emphasize how changes in species interaction organization, primarily affected by temperature fluctuations, are the backbone of biodiversity dynamics and yet for functional diversity in contrast to taxonomic richness. Abundance and richness manifest gradual shifts while interactions show sudden shift. The work provides data-driven tools for analyzing and monitoring fish ecosystems under the pressure of global warming or other stressors. Abundance and interaction patterns derived by network-based analyses proved useful to assess ecosystem susceptibility and effective change, and formulate predictive dynamic information for science-based fishery policy aimed to maintain marine ecosystems stable and sustainable.

A Novel and Scalable Spatio-Temporal Technique for Ocean Eddy Monitoring

Swirls of ocean currents known as ocean eddies are a crucial component of the ocean's dynamics. In addition to dominating the ocean's kinetic energy, eddies play a significant role in the transport of water, salt, heat, and nutrients. Therefore, understanding current and future eddy patterns is a central climate challenge to address future sustainability of marine ecosystems. The emergence of sea surface height observations from satellite radar altimeter has recently enabled researchers to track eddies at a global scale. The majority of studies that identify eddies from observational data employ highly parametrized connected component algorithms using expert filtered data, effectively making reproducibility and scalability challenging. In this paper, we frame the challenge of monitoring ocean eddies as an unsupervised learning problem. We present a novel change detection algorithm that automatically identifies and monitors eddies in sea surface height data based on heuristics derived from basic eddy properties. Our method is accurate, efficient, and scalable. To demonstrate its performance we analyze eddy activity in the Nordic Sea (60-80N and 20W-20E), an area that has received limited attention and has proven to be difficult to analyze using other methods.