Marine Institute of Memorial University of Newfoundland

About: Marine Institute of Memorial University of Newfoundland is a based out in . It is known for research contribution in the topics: Population & Salmo. The organization has 816 authors who have published 1370 publications receiving 39098 citations. The organization is also known as: Fisheries and Marine Institute of Memorial University of Newfoundland.

Lakes and reservoirs as regulators of carbon cycling and climate

Abstract: We explore the role of lakes in carbon cycling and global climate, examine the mechanisms influencing carbon pools and transformations in lakes, and discuss how the metabolism of carbon in the inland waters is likely to change in response to climate. Furthermore, we project changes as global climate change in the abundance and spatial distribution of lakes in the biosphere, and we revise the estimate for the global extent of carbon transformation in inland waters. This synthesis demonstrates that the global annual emissions of carbon dioxide from inland waters to the atmosphere are similar in magnitude to the carbon dioxide uptake by the oceans and that the global burial of organic carbon in inland water sediments exceeds organic carbon sequestration on the ocean floor. The role of inland waters in global carbon cycling and climate forcing may be changed by human activities, including construction of impoundments, which accumulate large amounts of carbon in sediments and emit large amounts of methane to the atmosphere. Methane emissions are also expected from lakes on melting permafrost. The synthesis presented here indicates that (1) inland waters constitute a significant component of the global carbon cycle, (2) their contribution to this cycle has significantly changed as a result of human activities, and (3) they will continue to change in response to future climate change causing decreased as well as increased abundance of lakes as well as increases in the number of aquatic impoundments.

Rapid and highly variable warming of lake surface waters around the globe

Abstract: In this first worldwide synthesis of in situ and satellite-derived lake data, we find that lake summer surface water temperatures rose rapidly (global mean = 0.34°C decade−1) between 1985 and 2009. Our analyses show that surface water warming rates are dependent on combinations of climate and local characteristics, rather than just lake location, leading to the counterintuitive result that regional consistency in lake warming is the exception, rather than the rule. The most rapidly warming lakes are widely geographically distributed, and their warming is associated with interactions among different climatic factors—from seasonally ice-covered lakes in areas where temperature and solar radiation are increasing while cloud cover is diminishing (0.72°C decade−1) to ice-free lakes experiencing increases in air temperature and solar radiation (0.53°C decade−1). The pervasive and rapid warming observed here signals the urgent need to incorporate climate impacts into vulnerability assessments and adaptation efforts for lakes.

Caribbean corals in crisis: record thermal stress, bleaching, and mortality in 2005.

Abstract: Background: The rising temperature of the world's oceans has become a major threat to coral reefs globally as the severity and frequency of mass coral bleaching and mortality events increase. In 2005, high ocean temperatures in the tropical Atlantic and Caribbean resulted in the most severe bleaching event ever recorded in the basin. Methodology/Principal Findings: Satellite-based tools provided warnings for coral reef managers and scientists, guiding both the iming and location of researchers' field observations as anomalously warm conditions developed and spread across the greater Caribbean region from June to October 2005. Field surveys of bleaching and mortality exceeded prior efforts in detail and extent, and provided a new standard for documenting the effects of bleaching and for testing nowcast and forecast products. Collaborators from 22 countries undertook the most comprehensive documentation of basin-scale bleaching to date and found that over 80% of corals bleached and over 40% died at many sites. The most severe bleaching coincided with waters nearest a western Atlantic warm pool that was centered off the northern end of the Lesser Antilles. Conclusions/Significance: Thermal stress during the 2005 event exceeded any observed from the Caribbean in the prior 20 years, and regionally-averaged temperatures were the warmest in over 150 years. Comparison of satellite data against field surveys demonstrated a significant predictive relationship between accumulated heat stress (measured using NOAA Coral Reef Watch's Degree Heating Weeks) and bleaching intensity. This severe, widespread bleaching and mortality will undoubtedly have long-term consequences for reef ecosystems and suggests a troubled future for tropical marine ecosystems under a warming climate.

Fitness reduction and potential extinction of wild populations of Atlantic salmon, Salmo salar, as a result of interactions with escaped farm salmon.

Abstract: The high level of escapes from Atlantic salmon farms, up to two million fishes per year in the North Atlantic, has raised concern about the potential impact on wild populations. We report on a two-generation experiment examining the estimated lifetime successes, relative to wild natives, of farm, F(1) and F(2) hybrids and BC(1) backcrosses to wild and farm salmon. Offspring of farm and "hybrids" (i.e. all F(1), F(2) and BC(1) groups) showed reduced survival compared with wild salmon but grew faster as juveniles and displaced wild parr, which as a group were significantly smaller. Where suitable habitat for these emigrant parr is absent, this competition would result in reduced wild smolt production. In the experimental conditions, where emigrants survived downstream, the relative estimated lifetime success ranged from 2% (farm) to 89% (BC(1) wild) of that of wild salmon, indicating additive genetic variation for survival. Wild salmon primarily returned to fresh water after one sea winter (1SW) but farm and 'hybrids' produced proportionately more 2SW salmon. However, lower overall survival means that this would result in reduced recruitment despite increased 2SW fecundity. We thus demonstrate that interaction of farm with wild salmon results in lowered fitness, with repeated escapes causing cumulative fitness depression and potentially an extinction vortex in vulnerable populations.

Oceanography and Marine Biology: An Annual Review

Abstract: Confusion Reigns? A Review of Marine Megafauna Interactions with Tidal-Stream Environments Steven Benjamins, Andrew C. Dale, Gordon Hastie, James J. Waggitt, Mary-Anne Lea, Beth Scott & Ben Wilson Climate-Driven Trophic Cascades Affecting Seabirds around the British Isles Alan MacDonald, Michael R. Heath, Martin Edwards, Robert W. Furness, John K. Pinnegar, Sarah Wanless, Douglas C. Speirs & Simon P.R. Greenstreet Circumglobal Invasion by the Brown Seaweed Sargassum muticum Aschwin H. Engelen, Alexandra Serebryakova, Put Ang, Kevin Britton-Simmons, Frederic Mineur, Morten F. Pedersen, Francisco Arenas, Consolacion Fernandez, Henning Steen, Robin Svenson, Henrik Pavia, Gunilla Toth, Frederique Viard & Rui Santos Simple, Scale-Dependent Patterns Emerge from Very Complex Effects-An Example from the Intertidal Mussels Mytilus galloprovincialis and Perna perna Christopher D. McQuaid, Francesca Porri, Katy R. Nicastro & Gerardo I. Zardi The Contribution of the Genus Littorina to the Field of Evolutionary Ecology Emilio Rolan-Alvarez, Christopher J. Austin & Elizabeth G. Boulding Spatial, Temporal and Taxonomic Variation in Coral Growth-Implications for the Structure and Function of Coral Reef Ecosystems Morgan S. Pratchett, Kristen D. Anderson, Mia O. Hoogenboom, Elizabeth Widman, Andrew H. Baird, John M. Pandolfi, Peter J. Edmunds & Janice M. Lough