Geography

A major ecosystem shift in the northern Bering sea

Jacqueline M. Grebmeier, The University of Tennessee, Knoxville
James E. Overland, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
Sue E. Moore, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
Ed V. Farley, NOAA Fisheries Service
Eddy C. Carmack, Institute of Ocean Sciences, Fisheries and Oceans Canada
Lee W. Cooper, The University of Tennessee, Knoxville
Karen E. Frey, University of California, Los Angeles
John H. Helle, NOAA Fisheries Service
Fiona A. McLaughlin, Institute of Ocean Sciences, Fisheries and Oceans Canada
S. Lyn McNutt, University of Alaska Fairbanks

Abstract

Until recently, northern Bering Sea ecosystems were characterized by extensive seasonal sea ice cover, high water column and sediment carbon production, and tight pelagic-benthic coupling of organic production. Here, we show that these ecosystems are shifting away from these characteristics. Changes in biological communities are contemporaneous with shifts in regional atmospheric and hydrographic forcing. In the past decade, geographic displacement of marine mammal population distributions has coincided with a reduction of benthic prey populations, an increase in pelagic fish, a reduction in sea ice, and an increase in air and ocean temperatures. These changes now observed on the shallow shelf of the northern Bering Sea should be expected to affect a much broader portion of the Pacific-influenced sector of the Arctic Ocean.