A global map of human impact on marine ecosystems science. Impacts of climate change on marine organisms and ecosystems. Further, summaries of recent climatic data indicate that the intensity and frequency of ocean storms are increasing as well. Less than 1% of these regions are relatively unaffected. Marine ecosystems in the united states range from tropical coral reefs center bottom to sea ice ecosystems in the arctic center top. Marine ecosystems human impacts on biodiversity, functioning and services ecosystem services are emerging as a key driver of conservation policy and environmental management. Cameron ainsworth at the university of south florida studies the impact that human beings have on marine ecosystems with the hope that he can influence marine policy to recognize and abate these negative effects. What color represents marine ecosystems with very low human impact. This map shows the impacts of humans on the oceans ecosystems. The national assessment of potential consequences of climate variability and change nast 2001 was based on a series of regional and sector assessments. Abstract the management and conservation of the world s oceans require synthesis of spatial data on the distribution and intensity of human activities and the overlap of their impacts on marine ecosystems. In cooperation with the university of rhode island, noaa developed the large marine ecosystem lme concept over 30 years ago as a model to implement ecosystem approaches to assessing, managing, recovering, and sustaining lme resources and environments. Summing across ecosystems allows cells with multiple ecosystems to have higher potential scores than areas with fewer ecosystems.
We can conduct consultations using online teleconferencing software. Systematic global mapping efforts of multiple anthropogenic. The goal of the research presented here is to estimate and visualize, for the first time, the global impact. Comment on a global map of human impact on marine ecosystems michael r. Climate change impacts on marine ecosystems annual. Past efforts to map human impactsonterrestrialecosystems12,coralreefs, and coastal regions 1416 used either coarse categorical or ad hoc methods to translate human activities into impacts. Human activities affect marine ecosystems as a result of pollution, overfishing, the introduction of invasive species, and acidification, which all impact on the marine food web and may lead to largely unknown consequences for the biodiversity and survival of marine life forms. Water security affects human wellbeing both directly and indirectly, through its effects on biodiversity. Gerken division of biology, kansas state university, 116 ackert hall, manhattan 66506, kansas, united states. Oceans and marine resources fourth national climate. Quantification and mapping of the cumulative impact of 22 drivers to 17 marine ecosystems reveals that 20% of the entire basin and 6099% of the territorial waters of eu member states are heavily impacted, with high human impact occurring in all ecoregions and territorial waters. Extractive uses impose direct human impacts on the marine environment, and therefore reactive protection, in closing access to valuable. Over 40% of the worlds oceans are heavily affected by human activities, and few, if any, areas remain untouched.
We developed an ecosystemspecific, multiscale spatial model to synthesize 17 global data sets of anthropogenic drivers of ecological change for. Comment on a global map of human impact on marine ecosystems article in science 3215895. Recent pace of change in human impact on the worlds ocean nature. Human exploitation of the oceans resources and destruction of marine habitats are driving species extinction, destroying fisheries, generating pollution, and creating ecological imbalances through. Although their role has been underappreciated until recently, archaeological records from coastlines around the world contain a wealth of information on the history of marine fisheries, human impacts on marine ecosystems, and marine conservation principles. Marine and coastal ecosystems and human wellbeingiii humankind depends on the oceans and coasts for its survival, with one third of the worlds population living in coastal areas, approximately 4 percent of earths total land area. A global map of human impact on marine ecosystems benjamin s. Bruno1,2 marine ecosystems are centrally important to the biology of the planet, yet a comprehensive understanding of how anthropogenic climate change is affecting them has been poorly developed. We intentionally did not further subdivide these categories into unique drivers e. With our oceans and marine fisheries currently in a state of crisis, coastal archaeological sites contain a wealth of data that can shed light on the history of human exploitation of marine ecosystems.
The benefits of water provision to economic productivity 2,6 are often accompanied by impairment to ecosystems. Human impact on the environment or anthropogenic impact on the environment includes changes to biophysical environments and ecosystems, biodiversity, and natural resources caused directly or indirectly by humans, including global warming, environmental degradation such as ocean acidification, mass extinction and biodiversity loss, ecological crisis, and ecological collapse. Carbon emissions from human activities are causing ocean warming. The functioning of marine ecosystems philippe cury, lynne shannon, and yunnejai shin not only is the science incomplete, but the ecosystem itself is a moving target, evolving because of the impact of management and the progressive expansion of the scale of human influences on the planet c. In particular, burning fossil fuels, making cement and changing land use have driven atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations co 2atm up from a preindustrial value of about 280 parts per million ppm to 385 ppm in 2008. However, growing human pressures, including climate change, are having profound and. Have students analyze the global map of human impacts to marine ecosystems. Display the map of human impacts to marine ecosystems. The impact of climate change on the worlds marine ecosystems ove hoeghguldberg1 and john f. Human impacts on the marine ecosystems of antarctica. The findings, related maps, and openly available data became one of our most highly cited research efforts. Impacts on marine ecosystems australian antarctic division.
Ecosystem rasters describing the location 1 if present, otherwise na of 21 global marine ecosystem types. The management and conservation of the world s oceans require synthesis of spatial data on the distribution and intensity of human activities and the overlap of their impacts on marine ecosystems. There is broad consensus that contemporary global climate change is reality, and that much of the ongoing change is a direct result of human activity 6, 7. We developed an ecosystem specific, multiscale spatial model to synthesize 17 global data sets of anthropogenic drivers of ecological change for 20 marine ecosystems.
Pdf the management and conservation of the worlds oceans require synthesis of spatial data on the. Rick covering more than 70 percent of our blue planet, the oceans dominate the earth in a. Lesson at a glance the concept of how humans impact healthy marine ecosystems is introduced in this lesson by building on knowledge from the previous lesson. There are critical thermal boundaries ctb where a small increase in temperature triggers abrupt ecosystem shifts regime shift and alters the abundance of primary producers, secondary producers and top predators. Archaeology, marine ecology, and human impacts on marine. To generate this map, the research team collected or created global maps of 17 different human activities, such as fishing and pollution, that have an impact on marine ecosystems, as well as maps of different marine ecosystems. Human impacts on marine ecosystems national geographic. Public webenabled viewer for usgs global ecosystems continental and global data. Global map of human impacts to marine ecosystems map and.
A global map of human impacts to marine ecosystems estimated human impact on the ecosystems of the global ocean. Environmental impactsmarine ecosystems springerlink. Comment on a global map of human impact on marine ecosystems. A global map of human impact on marine ecosystems nceas. The diagram shows some marine ecosystems center and the services they provide to human communities outer ring. Global marine wild fish harvest global mariculture production cumulative global hypoxic zones cumulative caribbean coral cover loss. Pdf a global map of human impact on marine ecosystems. Each coloured petal represents one human impact measure with the outer ring of each circle representing the maximum possible impact score i. Global changes and a range of other drivers are causing degradation or loss of ecosystem services.
Standardized human impact metric for seagrass beds on the atlantic coast of nova scotia. Briefly discuss the meaning of the choropleth map key. However, growing human pressures, including climate change, are having profound and diverse consequences for marine ecosystems. We developed an ecosystemspecific, multiscale spatial model to synthesize 17 global data sets of anthropogenic drivers of ecological change for 20 marine. Rising atmospheric carbon dioxide co 2 is one of the most critical problems because its effects are globally pervasive and irreversible on ecological timescales natl. Human impacts on marine ecosystems share my lesson. It details the likely impacts of climate change over the next century on u.
Students identify two major ways in which human beings impact marine ecosystems and give examples. A global map of human impacts to marine ecosystems an nceas working group published the first global assessment of cumulative human impacts on the ocean in science on february 15, 2008. A global map of human impact on marine ecosystems stanford. A global map of the relative impact of fishing on the biomass of marine ecosystems from 1950 to 2004 1 laura tremblayb oyer fisheries centre, university of british columbia, 2202 main mall, vancouver bc v6t 1z4 canada. Human impacts on marine ecosystems lesson plan template and teaching resources. These impacts are now global in scale, but humans have had the heaviest impact on nearshore and coastal areas 050 m in depth, substantial impacts on deeper continental shelf habitats.
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