Table Of ContentWATERS IN PERIL
WATERS IN PERIL
edited by
Leah BendelI-Young
and
Patricia Gallaugher
Simon Fraser University
Canada
SPRINGER scmNCE+BUSINESS MEDIA, LLC
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Waters in peril: edited by Leah Bendell-Young and Patricia Gallaugher.
p.cm.
Includes bibliographical references (p. ).
ISBN 978-1-4613-5581-6 ISBN 978-1-4615-1493-0 (eBook)
DOl 10.1007/978-1-4615-1493-0
1. Marine ecology. 2. Endangered ecosystems. I. Bendell-Young, Leah, 1942-II.
Gallaugher, Patricia, 1958-
QH541.5.S3 W38 2001
577.7-dc21
2001046202
Copyright © 200 I by Springer Science+Business Media New York
Originally published by Kluwer Academic Publishers in 200 I
Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1s t edition 200 I
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a
retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, mechanical, photo
copying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the
publisher, Kluwer Academic Publishers, 101 Philip Drive, Assinippi Park, Norwell,
Massachusetts 02061
Printed on acid-free paper.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Foreword: Who Speaks for the Oceans? ............................................. . XVll
John Nightingale
Preface: XiX
Waters in Peril: Patricia Gallaugher and Leah Bendell-Young .............. xxi
Acknowledgments ................................................................................... xxiii
PART I - BIODIVERSITY
Chapter 1: Biological Invasions of Marine Ecosystems: Patterns,
Effects, and Management............................. ............ ............ 3
Gregory M Ruiz and Jeffrey A. Crooks
Chapter 2: Known and Unknown Biodiversity, Risk of Extinction
and Conservation Strategy in The Sea ................................. 19
Marjorie L. Reaka-Kudla
Chapter 3: Deep-Sea Fisheries: Perspectives and Lessons .................... 35
Richard L. Haedrich
Chapter 4: Fishing Down Marine Food Webs: An Update .................... 47
Daniel Pauly and Maria Lourdes D. Palomares
Chapter 5: Ecological Implications of the Shellfishery;
A Case Study on the West Coast of
British Columbia, Canada .................................................... 57
Leah 1. Bendell-Young and Ron C.Ydenberg
PART II - MARINE ECOSYSTEM FUNCTION
Chapter 6: The Oceanic Nitrogen Cycle: A Double-Edged Agent
of Environmental Change? .................................................. 73
Louis A. Codispoti
Chapter 7: Beyond Algal Blooms, Oxygen Deficits and Fish Kills:
Chronic, Long-Term Impacts of Nutrient Pollution
on Aquatic Ecosystems ...... .................................................. 103
JoAnn M Burkholder
Chapter 8: Responses of Pelagic Marine Ecosystems to
Climate Change - Can We Predict Them? ......................... 127
Kenneth L. Denman
Chapter 9: The Arctic Ocean and Contaminants:
Pathways that Lead to Us ..................................................... 135
Robie W. Macdonald
vi
Chapter 10: Shouldn't We Be Putting Our Sulphide-Rich Mine
Tailings in the Ocean or in Lakes Rather than on Land? ..... 151
Thomas F. Pedersen
PART III - TOWARDS SOLUTIONS
Chapter 11: The Cumulative Effects of Climate Warming and
Other Human Stresses on Canadian Freshwaters
in the New Millennium ........................................................ 165
David W. Schindler
Chapter 12: Marine Biological Diversity: Conserving Life in the
Neglected Ninety-nine Percent ............................................ 187
Elliott A. Norse
Chapter 13: Human Ecology, Material Consumption, and the Sea:
Indices of Human Ecological Dysfunction .......................... 201
William E. Rees
Chapter 14: Prevention is Better Than Cure: Systems of 'No-Take'
Marine Reserves................................................................... 221
Bill Ballantine
Index 233
LIST OF FIGURES
PART I - BIODIVERSITY
Chapter 2
Figure 1. Most species of mantis shrimps are small in body size. Most
of these live on coral reefs, and most have abbreviated pelagic stages
( closed triangles) compared to the level bottom species, which reach
larger body sizes and have extended pelagic larval phases (open
circles). ......... ...... ................... ............. ..... ..... ......................... ..... ........ 22
Figure 2. The size of the geographic range increases with typical body
size of species of mantis shrimps within and among lineages. Related
species are indicated by the same symbol. .............. .......... ................. 24
Chapter 3
Figure 1. A history of global deep-sea fisheries. The bars show the
reported total landings and the line shows the number of species
exploited. Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) data. ............... 38
Figure 2. History of the Soviet exploitation of two dominant families
of deep-sea fishes around Antarctica. FAO data. ............................... 39
Figure 3. Catch rate of snow crab (bars: lbs trap-I day-I, log of the
Village Bride, Notre Dame Bay, Newfoundland) and the mean size
(line: gm) of northern cod in scientific surveys. The horizontal band
indicates the size at which cod begin to feed on crab. From Troy
Coombs, BSc Honours Thesis, Department of Biology, Memorial
University of Newfoundland. ............................................................. 41
Figure 4. Mean size (line: kg) and abundance index (bars: no. tow-I) of
Greenland halibut (Reinhardtius hippoglossoides) from scientific
surveys off northeast Newfoundland. Horizontal band indicates the
size range by which 50% of the population is mature. CPUE = Catch
per unit effort. .......... ....... ..................... ............ ...... .................... ......... 42
Figure 5. The differing space and time scales at which fisheries
scientists and fishermen view their worlds. ........ ........ ........................ 43
Figure 6. A conceptual model showing the ratcheting interaction over
time between ecosystems (communities of fishes) and human
systems (fisheries). ............................................................................. 44
Chapter 4
Figure l. 'Catch pyramids' for the Northwestern Atlantic (FAO Statistical
Area 21), showing the TLs from which fisheries catches were taken in
1950 (left; mean TL = 3.79) and 1997 (right; mean TL = 3.28). Note
viii
collapse ofhigh-TL species (i.e., mainly cod off Eastern Canada and
USA) and their partial replacement by low-TL species, especially
invertebrates. ...................................................................................... 49
Figure 2. The full dots are time series of mean TL in the Northeastern
Atlantic (FAO Area 27), illustrating a nearly pure form of fishing
down marine levels. Calculated trend corresponds to 0.04 TL per
decade but is an underestimate of the true trend (see text). The open
dots represent the mean TL that would be obtained, were one to
regroup the species, genera and families used for fisheries statistics
in FAO Area 27 with larger taxa. Note absence of trend for these
open dots. .............. ..... ................ ............................................... .......... 50
Figure 3. Relationship between TL and body length in the two groups
(high-order carnivores and first-order carnivores) offish contributing
to the overwhelming bulk of fisheries catches in the Northeastern
Atlantic. Based on data in FishBase (Froese and Pauly 1998). .......... 52
Figure 4. Decline of equilibrium mean length in fisheries catches (in % of
maximum length) due to increase in exploitation rate (E) for two values
of the ratio of natural mortality to growth rates (MIK) and ranges of
size at first capture (Lf), derived from Z{L.",,+(qtp-'L)]j[qtp-+l]
(Pauly & Soriano 1986; based on Beverton & Holt 1957). ................ 53
Figure 5. Nomogram representing the decline ofTL due to an increase
of exploitation rate, for two values ofMlK and different lengths at
first capture (Lf), for first- and higher-order carnivores. The lines are
dotted past E = 0.7, as such high values ofE tend to be rare, optimum
exploitation usually occurring when E = 0.5 (Beddington and Cooke
1981; Pauly and Soriano 1986). ......................................................... 54
Figure 6. Trends ofTL in the Northeastern Atlantic. Open dots: original
values (see Figure 2). Filled dots: values corrected for the effect
of declining size (and hence TL) within species, as implied by
Figure 4. Further assumptions are E = 0.1; E = 0.5 and
1950 1997
Lf = 40% of Lmax and MlK=2 for first-order carnivores and Lf = 20%
of Lmax and MlK=l for higher-order carnivores. Note increased
downward slope from full (-0.00398) to open dots (0.00465),
representing an increase of about 15%. .............................................. 55
Chapter 5
Figure l. Location of three study beaches. .................... .......................... 60
Figure 2. Species richness (# of species) versus beach location (from
low, Block 1, to high, Block 6 tide. Species richness values for
Reference Beach A that are significantly higher than Beach Band/or
ix
*.
C are denoted with an There is a sandbar located at position 4 on
Beach A. Note the decrease in species richness with tide elevation
for beach A and B, but not C. ............................................................. 61
Figure 3. Bivalve abundance versus tidal elevation (m above low tide). 62
Figure 4. Shift in community structure as measured by the % of species
that comprise surface, sub-surface and clams. ................................... 64
Figure 5. Difference in % organic matter versus tidal elevation of the
three beaches. .......... ............. ..................................... ............ ............. 64
Figure 6. Length-frequency distribution oflittleneck (native and
Japanese) clams in September 1984 (black bar) and April 1985 (gray
bar) in the mid-intertidal at Sandy Island Provincial Park, Baynes
Sound. The difference between the two histograms indicates the
portion removed, assumed mostly due to scoter depredation. ........... 66
Chapter 6
Figure 1. A schematic diagram indicating the great increase in anthro
pogenic nitrogen fixation over the last several decades. The units
ofTg/yr mean 1012 g ofN per year. It is generally agreed that the
anthropogenic rate now exceeds the natural terrestrial rate of nitrogen
fixation, but there is considerable uncertainty as to the oceanic rate.
Thus, we cannot say for sure that the anthropogenic rate at the
present time exceeds the total natural rate. (source = International
Geosphere-Biosphere Programme). ................................................... 76
Figure 2. A schematic and simplified diagram of the oceanic nitrogen
cycle based on an original figure presented by Liu (1979). ............... 77
Figure 3. A pie chart showing the relative contributions of various
atmospheric trace gases to the greenhouse effect. Note that water
vapor which is another important greenhouse gas is not shown, and
that the relative contributions could change with time. ...................... 78
Figure 4. The sum ofnitrate+nitrite (mostly nitrate) concentrations in
the Choptank River, Maryland from an autonomous analyzer
deployed by my group in Spring 1999. The Choptank is an arm of
Chesapeake Bay. The shaded area shows data from the surface. Then
a storm ripped the device off the mooring and it continued to work
as a bottom sampler for the remainder of the deployment. It is
unusual to find surface nitrate values higher than deep values in
natural systems, but here we see the effects of pollution that is
introduced near the surface. Sea level is also plotted to show that
there are significant hourly scale changes in nitrate+nitrite that
seem to be related to the tides. We are only now acquiring the
instrumentation to easily resolve such scales. Also note that most
x
concentrations are well above 10 micromolar (J!M) and are therefore
high enough to have a deleterious effect on eel grass (see text). ....... 80
Figure 5. Data from a station located in the portion of the Arabian Sea
that contains suboxic water at depths between ~ 100-1 OOOm.
Pressure in db is very similar to depths in meters. The data come
from cruises, 39, 43, 45, 49, 50 and 54 of the U.S. Joint Global
Ocean Flux Process Study of the Arabian Sea. They cover all
seasons and were taken from the University of Washington's
research vessel, the RIV T. G. Thompson. You can see the vanishingly
small oxygen concentrations in the suboxic zone, a nitrate minimum
at mid-depth that arises from the reduction of nitrate (NO f) during
denitrification, and a corresponding nitrite (N02-) maximum.
Calculations suggest that not all of the reduced nitrate is accounted
for by nitrite which merns that some of the nitrate that should be
there has been reduced to free nitrogen (N2). ..................................... 85
Figure 6. Vertical profiles of nitrate (N03-), phosphate (P04-3) and
SiO(OHh- (the chemical symbol for silicic acid which is the main
form of dissolved silicon) from the Southern Ocean taken during
the U.S. JGOFS Southern Ocean Study (AESOPS). .......................... 90
Figure 7. Continuous vertical profiles of nitrate, nitrite, ammonium,
phosphate, and SiO(OH3)- (dissolved silicon) taken with a pumping
system during the 1988 Black Sea Expedition. ................ ........ .......... 91
Chapter 7
Figure 1. Export of total nitrogen from watersheds surrounding the
North Atlantic Ocean, as a function of net anthropogenic inputs of
N into the watersheds. Net anthropogenic in-puts are defined as
industrial N fertilizer + N 2 fixation by legume crops + atmospheric
inputs of oxidized N + net imports ofN in food and livestock.
Reprinted from Vitousek et aI.; originally from Howarth et aI.,
with permission from Kluwer Academic Publishers. ........... ....... ....... 104
Figure 2. Relationship between human population density in the
watershed and export of soluble reactive phosphate in river water,
considering data for 32 major rivers. Reprinted from Caraco, with
kind permission from John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. ................................. 104
Figure 3. Generalized shift in primary production of major plant groups
with increasing nutrient inputs to most natural lakes (small, less
than 10 meters deep). Phytoplankton dominance gives way to
submersed plants and benthic microalgae, then to emergent plants
along a gradient of increasing nutrients over time. In shallow
estuaries and coastal embayments, by contrast, phytoplankton
xi
generally are minor contributors to primary production throughout.
Dominance by seagrasses and their algal colonizers gives way to
dominance by macro algae (seaweeds). Modified and reprinted
with permission from Wetzel (1979). ................................................. 109
Figure 4. The response of the seagrass, Zostera marina, to water-column
nitrate enrichment in outdoor mesocosms during the spring growing
season, as (A) control plants with ambient sea- water nitrate « 15 ug
N03-NIL), (B) low enrichment and (C) moderate enrichment
(addition of enough nitrate to achieve a water-column concentration
of 50 ug N03-N IL or 100 ug N03-N/L, respectively, immediately
after addition; added each morning for 6 weeks). Note the thick,
robust growth of the control plants, with fewer plants in the low
enrichment regime, and sparse plants in the moderate enrichment
regime (see Burkholder et al. 1992 for details). ................................. 112
Chapter 8
Figure 1. A schematic of the planktonic ecosystem model coupled to
a I-dimensional vertical mixing model. N - dissolved nutrient,
P - phytoplankton, Z - zooplankton, and D - detritus or sinking
lij
organic particles. The arrows represent fluxes of nutrient between
compartments and the arrow XP represents the sinking flux of
organic particles at 1epths of 50 and 120 m. The images show that
each living compartment represents many species of organisms. ...... 130
Figure 2a. Results of the simulations with abundant iron for phyto
plankton growth. The summer maximum concentration of zoo
plankton Z increased by 154%, and the flux of sinking organic
particles (export of carbon by the biotic pump to the ocean
interior) increased by 25%. ................................................................ 132
Figure 2b. Results of the simulations with a warming of2° C applied.
The stocks in the ecosystem did not change significantly. The flux
of sinking organic particles decreased by 25%. ................................. 132
Chapter 9
Figure 1. The Arctic Ocean is shown as a "Mediterranean Sea"
surrounded by some of the most industrial and agricultural regions
of the world. Note that the area of the drainage basin exceeds that
of the ocean and that rivers flowing into the Arctic Ocean not only
deliver dissolved and particle-bound contaminants, but also help to
stratify the ocean and prevent vertical mixing. .................................. 13 7
Figure 2. The connection between the Atlantic Ocean and the Arctic
Ocean (after Dahlgaard, 1995). As illustrated by reprocessing plant
