Description: We provide an overview of the results devoted to the analysis of the dynamics and economics of shallow lakes, spanning the period from 1999 until now. A shallow lake serves as a typical representative of an ecological system subject to (possibly irreversible) regime shifts. The dynamics of a shallow lake are described by a non-linear model with multiple steady states and multiple domains of attraction and is thus suitable to model the evolution of an ecosystem featuring both resilience within a domain of stability and an abrupt regime shift outside of it. Beyond this, the shallow lake model can also be viewed as a metaphor for many other ecological problems. Due to the broad applicability of this model, there is substantial interest in the management of shallow lakes and both their optimal regulation and competitive usage.

Description: In the context of forecasted climate change scenarios, the growth of forest tree species at their distribution margin is crucial to adapt current forest management strategies. Analyses of beech (Fagus sylvatica L.) growth have shown high plasticity, but easternmost beech populations have been rarely studied. To describe the response of the marginal beech population to the climate in the far east sites of its distribution, we first compiled new tree ring width chronologies. Then we analyzed climate–growth relationships for three marginal beech populations in the Republic of Moldova. We observed a relatively high growth rate in the marginal populations compared to core distribution sites. Our analyses further revealed a distinct and significant response of beech growth to all climatic variables, assessing for the first time the relationship between growth and vapor pressure deficit (VPD) which described how plant growth responds to drought. These results highlight that accumulated water deficit is an essential limiting factor of beech growth in this region. In conclusion, beech growth in the easternmost marginal population is drought-limited, and the sensitivity to VPD will need to be considered in future studies to update the forest management of other economic and ecologically important species.

Description: The area around the Antarctic Peninsula (AP) is facing rapid climatic and environmental changes, with so far unknown impacts on the benthic microbial communities of the continental shelves. In this study, we investigated the impact of contrasting sea ice cover on microbial community compositions in surface sediments from five stations along the eastern shelf of the AP using 16S ribosomal RNA (rRNA) gene sequencing. Redox conditions in sediments with long ice-free periods are characterized by a prevailing ferruginous zone, whereas a comparatively broad upper oxic zone is present at the heavily ice-covered station. Low ice cover stations were highly dominated by microbial communities of Desulfobacterota (mostly Sva1033, Desulfobacteria, and Desulfobulbia), Myxococcota, and Sva0485, whereas Gammaproteobacteria, Alphaproteobacteria, Bacteroidota, and NB1-j prevail at the heavy ice cover station. In the ferruginous zone, Sva1033 was the dominant member of Desulfuromonadales for all stations and, along with eleven other taxa, showed significant positive correlations with dissolved Fe concentrations, suggesting a significant role in iron reduction or an ecological relationship with iron reducers. Our results indicate that sea ice cover and its effect on organic carbon fluxes are the major drivers for changes in benthic microbial communities, favoring potential iron reducers at stations with increased organic matter fluxes.

Description: In this study, we made use of a regional oak tree-ring network from six stands that cover the northern Moldavian Plateau (eastern Europe) to analyze how different tree ring parameters (i.e., early wood tree-ring width, late wood tree-ring width, and total tree-ring width) of Quercus sp. are influenced by the occurrence of extreme climatic events (e.g., long-lasting drought events). In order to explore the influence of extreme hydroclimatic events on tree ring width, we have selected each of the six most extreme positive and negative years of tree growth and addressed the seasonal cycle of tree growth in comparison with the main climatic parameters, then evaluated both the current and lagged consequences of extreme hydroclimatic events on tree ring width and the capacity of trees to recover. Our results indicate that the variability of oak tree ring width from the Moldavian Plateau is mainly influenced by the availability of water resources, and that an important limiting growth factor for Quercus sp. is the occurrence of long-lasting drought events, e.g., at least two years in a row with severe drought conditions.

Description: Science Board Meeting 2022 — Note from the Science Board Chair. FUTURE SSC’s 8th Annual Meeting ~ Highlights. PICES-2022 and the first hybrid annual meeting. Featuring PICES-2022 Award recipients: (Chair Award, Wooster Award, Zhu-Peterson Award, PICES Ocean Monitoring Service Award, ECS Best Presentation Awards). PICES-2022 Workshop Reports: (W1: Distributions of pelagic, demersal, and benthic species associated with seamounts in the North Pacific Ocean and factors influencing their distributions, W2: Integrated Ecosystem Assessment (IEA) to understand the present and future of the Central Arctic Ocean (CAO) and Northern Bering and Chukchi Seas (NBS-CS), W3: SmartNet: Promoting PICES and ICES Leadership in the UN Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development, W4: Exploring Engagement Opportunities for Early Career Ocean Professionals (ECOPs) within PICES and Internationally, W5: Integrating biological research, fisheries science and management of broadly distributed flatfish species across the North Pacific Ocean in the face of climate and environmental variability, W7: Anthropogenic stressors, mechanisms and potential impacts on Marine Birds, Mammals, and Sea Turtles, W8: Science Communication Training: How to Create Memorable PICES Science Stories, W10: A TCODE Workshop on “Openly Discoverable, Accessible, and Reusable Data and Information in the U.N. Decade”). PICES AP-NPCOOS "Ocean Big Data" Summer School. PICES AP-CREAMS Virtual Summer School on Ocean Turbulence: From Observing to Research. Science and Innovation to Scale Up Ocean Action: UN Ocean Conference 2022. ECOP Perspective on the 4th Early Career Scientist Conference (ECSC4). Symposium in Lisbon Re-unites the Global Community Investigating Small Pelagic Fish. SPF2022 Symposium Workshop Reports: (1: Application of Genetics to Small Pelagic Fish, 2: The Devil’s in the Details of Using Species Distribution Models to Inform Multispecies and Ecosystem Models, 3: Small Pelagics for Whom? Challenges and Opportunities for the Equitable Distribution of Nutritional Benefits, 4: Evaluating Inter-Sectoral Tradeoffs and Community-Level Response to Spatio-Temporal Changes in Forage Distribution and Abundance, 5: Recent Advances in the Daily Egg Production Method (DEPM): Challenges and Opportunities, 6: Small Pelagic Fish Reproductive Resilience). SOLAS Open Science Conference, 2022. Early Career Scientist Participation in SOLAS Open Science Conference, 2022. PICES SeaTurtle researchers find clues linking derelict fishing lines of “Urban Fishermen” to sea turtle stranding. NPAFC's IYS Synthesis Symposium - Key Takeaways. The Bering Sea: Current Status and Recent Trends. Western North Pacific: Current status and recent topic: Sea Surface Temperature during the 2022 warm season, The Northeast Pacific: Update on marine heatwave status and trends. PICES Events Calendar. PICES by the Numbers, and an Invitation to join SG-GREEN. Open call for PICES Press submissions | About PICES Press

Description: Published

Description: Non Refereed

Description: PICES Accomplishments in 2021 - Note from the Science Board Chair. Highlights from the FUTURE SCC's 2021 Annual Meeting. Highlightrs from PICES-2021. Featuring PICES-2021 Award recipients (Chair Award, Wooster Award, Zhu-Peterson Award, PICES Ocean Monitoring Services Award, ECS Best Presentation Awards). PICES New Code of Ethics. PICES-2021 Workshop Reports (BIO/FIS Topic WS1: Can we link zooplankton production to fisheries recruitment? FIS Topic Workshop WS2: Pelagic and forage species - predicting response and evaluating resiliency to environmental variability. AP-NPCOOS/MONITOR/TCODE/BIO/FUTURE Topic Workshop WS4: Monitoring Essential Biodiversity Variables in the coastal zone. FUTURE Topic Workshop WS5: Engaging Early Career Ocean Professionals in PICES to further the next generation of integrated ocean sustainability science). The western North Pacific during the 2021 warm season. Bering Sea: Current status and recent trends. Northeawst Pacific Update: Summer 2021 low oxygen event on the west coast of North America. Highlights from the MSEAS Teaser Event. PICES Event Calendar. Your PICES Science Images - Call for Submissions. About PICES Press.

Description: Published

Description: Non Refereed

Description: Intersessional Science Board Meeting 2022 - Note from the Science Board Chair. FUTURE SSC's 8th Intersessional Meeting ~ Highlights. SmartNet Event: Establishing Global Knowledge Networks to Achieve "A Productive Ocean." PICES and ICES at Our Ocean 2022, Palau. Looking forward to a return to in-person annual meetings at PICES-2022. An Invitation to the Science Communication Workshop at PICES 2022: How to Create Memorable PICES Science Stories. PICES Ciguatera Project in International News. Exploring Human Networks to Power Sustainability. AP-ECOP's Early Career Ocean Professionals Update: ECOP cross-pollination in PICES and Internationally. Eagerly anticipating the 4th ICES/PICES ECS Conference this July! PICES Contributions to OSM 2022. Pacific Ecology and Evolution Conference (PEEC). Update on the Bering Sea. The western North Pacific during the 2021/2022 cold season. Cool winter and early spring conditions in the Northeast Pacific. Remembering Timothy Parsons - Pre-eminent Canadian marine scientist. PICES Calendar of Events. PICES Science Images & Call for submissions. PICES By the Numbers. About PICES Press.

Description: Published

Description: Non Refereed

Description: Intersessional Science Board Meeting 2023 - Note from the new SB Chair. Future SSC's 9th Intersessional Meeting ~Highlights. PICES 2023 ~ See you in Seattle. The 5th International Conference on the Effects of Climate Change on the World's Ocean ECCWO5 (Together we will work; W1 Workshop Report; W2 Workshop Report; S2 Session Report; S3 Session Report; S10 Session Report; S18 Session Report; S19 Session Report; ECOP Update; Presentation Awards; EuroFish). PICES-MAFF Ciguartera Project - Summary of Activities. Exploring National ECOP hubs in PICES member countries. The 44th Pacific Ecology and Evolution Conference (PEEC). Regional Reports (The Bering Sea: Current Status and Recent Trends; Western North Pacific - Current Status and Updates: Sea surface temperatures for the 2022/2023 cold season; The Northeast Pacific: Update on marine heatwave status and trends). The Continuous Plankton Recorder as a platform for sensor development. ICES Annual Science Conference, 2022: Theme Session J. The Development of the SUPREME Network. Remembering Vera Alexander. PICES by the Numbers: #ECCWO5 Calculated Carbon Emissions. PICES Events Calendar. Your PICES Science Images. Open call for PICES Press submissions|About PICES Press

Description: Published

Description: Non Refereed

Description: 2021 inter-sessional Science Board meeting - Note from the science Board Chair. FUTURE SCC's 7th inter-sessional meeting highlights. Sustainability of Marine Ecosystems Through Knowledge Networks (SMARTNET) Endorsed as a UN Decade of Ocean Science Program. SMARTNET featured in ECO magazine. Early Career Ocean Professionals: Evolving Contributions to PICES & the UN Ocean Decade. Pacific Ecology and Evolution Conference. The (Virtual) International Symposium on Plastics in the Arctic and Sub-Arctic Regions. Hal Batchelder's legacy - in PICES words. The western North Pacific during the 2020/2021 cold season. Behring Sea: Current status and recent trends. The Northeast Pacific: Update on Marine Heat Wave Status. PICES by the numbers - finding balance. Your PICES science images Feature: SEAturtle Special Project. About PICES Press.

Description: Published

Description: Non Refereed

Description: The eastern part of Europe is very poorly represented in the Global Network for Isotopes in Precipitation (GNIP) database, mainly because the monitoring of the stable isotopes in precipitation started only recently compared with other regions. In this respect, the main objective of this article is to fill the gap in the GNIP database over the eastern part of Europe and show the temporal variability and potential drivers of an extended network of δ18O values in precipitation collected from 27 locations in Romania and the Republic of Moldova. We also present the first high-resolution map of the spatio-temporal distribution of δ18O values in precipitation in Romania and the Republic of Moldova, according to an observational dataset. According to our results, the stations from western and northern Romania tend to have LMWLS with higher values than those from southwestern Romania. The monthly variation of the δ18O and δ2H showed a clearly interannual variation, with distinct seasonal differences, following the seasonal temperatures. The analysis of the spatial distribution of stable isotopes in precipitation water was made on the basis of both observational data and modeled data. This allowed us to study the origin of the air moisture and the interaction with regional and local patterns and to analyze the link between the spatial δ18O variations and the large-scale circulation patterns on a seasonal scale.