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: 〈jats:p〉Food-webs are a critical feature of ecosystems and help us understand how communities will respond to climate change. The Southern Ocean is facing rapid and accelerating changes due to climate change. Though having evolved in an isolated and somewhat extreme environment, Southern Ocean biodiversity and food-webs are among the most vulnerable. Here, we review 1) current knowledge on Southern Ocean food-webs; 2) methods to study food-webs; 3) assessment of current and future impacts of climate change on Southern Ocean food-webs; 4) knowledge gaps; and 5) the role of Early Career Researchers (ECRs) in future studies. Most knowledge on Southern Ocean food-webs come from the pelagic environment, both at macro- and microbial levels. Modelling and diet studies of individual species are major contributors to the food-web knowledge. These studies revealed a short food-web, predominantly sustained by Antarctic Krill (〈jats:italic〉Euphausia superba〈/jats:italic〉). Additionally, alternative pathways exist, involving other krill species, fish, and squid, which play equally important roles in connecting primary producers with top predators. Advantages and disadvantages of several techniques used to study Southern Ocean food-webs were identified, from the classical analyses of stomach contents, scats, or boluses to the most recent approaches such as metabarcoding and trophic-biomarkers. Observations show that climate change can impact the food-web in different ways. As an example, changes to smaller phytoplankton species can lengthen the food-web, increasing assimilation losses and/or changing nutrient cycles. Future studies need to focus on the benthic-dominated food-webs and the benthopelagic coupling. Furthermore, research during the winter season and below the ice-shelves is needed as these areas may play a crucial role in the functioning of this ecosystem. ECRs can play a significant role in advancing the study of Southern Ocean food-webs due to their willingness for interdisciplinary collaboration and proficiency in employing various methodologies, contributing to the construction of high-resolution food-webs.〈/jats:p〉

Description: Euphausia superba is a key species of the Southern Ocean, impacted by climate change and human exploitation. Understanding how these changes affect the distribution and abundance of krill is crucial for generating projections of change for Southern Ocean ecosystems. Krill growth is an important indicator of habitat suitability and a series of models have been developed and used to examine krill growth potential at different spatial and temporal scales. The available models have been developed using a range of empirical and mechanistic approaches, providing alternative perspectives and comparative analyses of the key processes influencing krill growth. Here we undertake an intercomparison of a suite of the available models to understand their sensitivities to major driving variables. This illustrates that the results are strongly determined by the model structure and technical characteristics, and the data on which they were developed and validated. Our results emphasize the importance of assessing the constraints and requirements of individual krill growth models to ensure their appropriate application. The study also demonstrates the value of the development of alternative modelling approaches to identify key processes affecting the dynamics of krill. Of critical importance for modelling the growth of krill is appropriately assessing and accounting for differences in estimates of food availability resulting from alternative methods of observation. We suggest that an intercomparison approach is particularly valuable in the development and application of models for the assessment of krill growth potential at circumpolar scales and for future projections. As another result of the intercomparison, the implementations of the models used in this study are now publicly available for future use and analyses.

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: Biodiversity loss is a major global challenge and minimizing extinction rates is the goal of several multilateral environmental agreements. Policy decisions require comprehensive, spatially explicit information on species’ distributions and threats. We present an analysis of the conservation status of 14,669 European terrestrial, freshwater and marine species (ca. 10% of the continental fauna and flora), including all vertebrates and selected groups of invertebrates and plants. Our results reveal that 19% of European species are threatened with extinction, with higher extinction risks for plants (27%) and invertebrates (24%) compared to vertebrates (18%). These numbers exceed recent IPBES (Intergovernmental Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services) assumptions of extinction risk. Changes in agricultural practices and associated habitat loss, overharvesting, pollution and development are major threats to biodiversity. Maintaining and restoring sustainable land and water use practices is crucial to minimize future biodiversity declines.

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