From Plankton & Cod To Jellyfish & Crabs - North Sea "A Totally Different Ecosystem Now"

[hatrack]

Fueled by previously unappreciated links between climate and ecology, the North Sea has undergone a radical ecological shift in the last half-century, say scientists. The very shape of the food web has changed, from plankton on up to the cod and flatfish that once dominated the icy waters, supporting rich commercial fisheries. They’ve been largely replaced by jellyfish and crabs.

The full scope of the change has gone relatively unnoticed, and could foreshadow changes in waters around the world. “Climate-driven changes in the biology of the sea are largely hidden from view,” said Richard Kirby, a University of Plymouth marine biologist and Royal Society Research Fellow. “If similar changes occurred in a temperate forest, we would be shocked.”

EDIT

At the heart of Kirby and Beaugrand’s findings is data from the Continuous Plankton Recorder Survey, which has been run in the North Atlantic since 1931, when explorer Alister Hardy invented the recorder — a specialized box that’s dragged behind commercial ships, allowing researchers to take sea-wide samples of plankton and juvenile members of other species. Combined with temperature records, the CPRs provides the most comprehensive climate-ecosystem dataset of any ocean, if not the entire world. And as temperatures have changed, so has every part of the food web, starting with its foundation.

“If you were to divide zooplankton into those that prefer warmer southern waters, and those that prefer colder northern waters, and look at the boundaries between those groups, it’s moved north by over 700 miles in the last 40 years,” said Kirby. “That’s one of the largest range shifts, if not the largest, that’s been recorded.”

Ed. - emphasis added.

EDIT

http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2009/10/north-sea-change/

[BrklynLiberal]

1. more canaries in the mine shaft.