Ecological network indicators of ecosystem status and change in the Baltic Sea

Several marine ecosystems under anthropogenic pressure have experienced shifts from one ecological state to another. In the central Baltic Sea, the regime shift of the 1980s has been associated with food-web reorganization and redirection of energy flow pathways. These long-term dynamics from 1974 t...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:PloS one 2013-10, Vol.8 (10), p.e75439
Main Authors: Tomczak, Maciej T, Heymans, Johanna J, Yletyinen, Johanna, Niiranen, Susa, Otto, Saskia A, Blenckner, Thorsten
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Animals
Anthropogenic factors
Biomass
Climate change
Climate models
Cod
Commercial fishing
Computer simulation
Ecological monitoring
Ecology
Ecosystem
Energy flow
Environmental changes
Eutrophication
Fish
Fisheries management
Fishing
Food
Food Chain
Food webs
Indicators
Integrated approach
Marine ecosystems
Models, Theoretical
Mortality
Natural Resources Management
naturresurshushållning
Network analysis
Oceans and Seas
Systems stability
Topology
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Summary:Several marine ecosystems under anthropogenic pressure have experienced shifts from one ecological state to another. In the central Baltic Sea, the regime shift of the 1980s has been associated with food-web reorganization and redirection of energy flow pathways. These long-term dynamics from 1974 to 2006 have been simulated here using a food-web model forced by climate and fishing. Ecological network analysis was performed to calculate indices of ecosystem change. The model replicated the regime shift. The analyses of indicators suggested that the system's resilience was higher prior to 1988 and lower thereafter. The ecosystem topology also changed from a web-like structure to a linearized food-web.
ISSN:1932-6203
1932-6203
DOI:10.1371/journal.pone.0075439