Scottish Association for Marine Science

About: Scottish Association for Marine Science is a facility organization based out in Oban, United Kingdom. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Sea ice & Benthic zone. The organization has 524 authors who have published 1765 publications receiving 70783 citations. The organization is also known as: SAMS & Scottish Marine Station for Scientific Research.

Sustaining Europe's seas as coupled social ecological systems

Abstract: BACKGROUND There is ample evidence for human alteration of Europe’s regional seas, particularly the enclosed or partly enclosed Baltic, Black, Mediterranean, and North Seas. Accounts of habitat and biodiversity loss, pollution, and the decline of fish stocks in these economically, socially, and ecologically important seas demonstrate unsustainable use of the marine environment. At the same time, there is an insufficient quantity and quality of information to enable purely evidence-based management of Europe’s seas despite this being a declared goal of many decisionmakers; for example, less than 10% of the deep sea has been systematically explored (UNEP 2006). Evidence-based management alone is rarely possible in situations with complex value-laden policy options (Greenhalgh and Russell 2009), and unfortunately, many of the most pervasive problems in the marine environment are “wicked” second-order problems (Jentoft and Chuenpagdee 2009): they are complex in nature and their management will often involve both winners and losers. Solutions to these problems involve less politically attractive, valuebased choices and may require long time lags before tangible results are observed. Fisheries management, habitat and species protection, competition for marine space, and invasive species are all examples of “wicked” problems. These are some of the biggest issues facing Europe’s seas and are the major focus of this article and Special Feature. For the first time in European history, most countries have adopted a common maritime policy (the 2007 Integrated Maritime Policy) and a legally binding environmental directive (the 2008 Marine Strategy Framework Directive [MSFD]). These comprehensive policy vehicles encompass, or closely interface with, more specific measures, such as the recently reformed Common Fisheries Policy, the Water Framework Directive, the Habitats and Birds Directive, and a number of targeted policy instruments that deal with aspects of pollution control and coastal zone management. The overall array of measures has the potential to ensure the sustainable use of Europe’s seas and the restoration of marine environments, but the pathway between the current situation and the implementation of an ecosystem approach to management (the aspiration of the European Commission; see Our Approach to Research) is fraught with “wicked” problems. Science can help society resolve these problems, but in many cases this requires the broad and integrative vision of Odum’s (1971) “macroscope” rather than trying to piece together an ill-fitting jigsaw puzzle of discipline-focused information. This paper and the others in this Special Feature employ a systems approach. We describe the approach, how it can be applied practically, and some of the challenges in making it work. Though the work is based on research on Europe’s seas, it has much wider implications for regional seas throughout the world. OUR APPROACH TO RESEARCH ON MARINE SOCIALECOLOGICAL SYSTEMS The research described in this paper (and Special Feature) was conducted in the framework of the EU-FP7 funded project Knowledge-based Sustainable Management of Europe’s Seas (KnowSeas). The interdisciplinary research spanned 4 years and involved 33 institutions from 16 European countries (KnowSeas 2013). Its primary objective was to develop “a comprehensive scientific knowledge base and practical guidance for the application of the ecosystem approach to the sustainable development of Europe’s regional seas.” Given the knowledge gaps and uncertainties in the way Europe’s marine social-ecological systems function (e.g., unresolved causal links, poorly mapped habitats, nonlinear dynamics), an iterative approach to inquiry was adopted, based partly on the reasoning behind soft systems analysis (e.g., Checkland 2000).

Towards improved understanding of the diversity and abundance patterns of the mid-ocean ridge macro- and megafauna

Abstract: Mid-ocean ridges are vast features of all oceans but their fauna and ecological significance remain poorly understood. Ridge studies in recent decades were understandably biased in favour of the newly discovered chemosynthetic ecosystems. Investigations of photosynthesis-based systems and communities associated with ridges were scattered and few despite their much larger scale and significance for ocean productivity patterns and biogeography and for the management of human activities on the high seas. This knowledge gap was recognised by the Census of Marine Life (CoML) programme and led to the initiation of a dedicated field project on non-chemosynthetic systems and communities of a mid-ocean ridge. The present collection of articles highlights results from the project ‘Patterns and Processes of the Ecosystems of the northern Mid-Atlantic’ (MAR-ECO), the CoML field project that aims to explore the diversity and distribution patterns of photosynthesis-based communities of mid-ocean ridges by a range of classical and new technologies and methods. In 2003–2005, comprehensive investigations were conducted on pelagic and epibenthic macro- and megafauna of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge between Iceland and the Azores. Several research vessels participated in the first field phase of the project, but the majority of the results were from a 2-month international expedition on the Norwegian vessels R.V. G.O. Sars and the chartered fishing vessel M.S. Loran in 2004. This introduction explains the background and goals of MAR-ECO, summarizes the strategies and sampling efforts, and briefly introduces future plans as the project enters a second field phase in 2007–2009.

Deep-water renewal in a Scottish fjord: temperature, salinity and oxygen isotopes

Abstract: The sea lochs (fjords) of north-west Scotland are located in a region of Europe particularly well situated to monitor changes in westerly air streams. The moisture transported in these air streams has a profound effect on regional precipitation, freshwater run-off and, in turn, sea loch circulation. The gentle slope of the regional salinity:?18O mixing-line, defined as 0.18 ‰ per salinity unit, suggests that the temperature: ?18O relationship may be readily resolved in these coastal waters. Deep-water renewal events, both observed and predicted from empirical models, in the bottom-waters of Loch Etive provide an opportunity to assess the temperature, salinity and ?18O relationship. Predicted changes in ?18Ocalcite as a function of changing salinity (?S) and changing temperature (?T) during deep-water renewal events suggest that >80% fall above analytical detection limits. The theoretical likelihood of recording such renewal events in the “palaeoclimate” record appears to be promising, but temperature and salinity change during renewal events may have either sign. Scottish fjords, because of the relatively small impact which salinity has on ?18Owater, may provide useful study sites in palaeoclimate research, particularly where palaeotemperature is the primary record of interest.

A comparison of the deep‐water demersal fish assemblages of the Rockall Trough and Porcupine Seabight, eastern North Atlantic: continental slope to rise

Abstract: Fishery surveys of the continental slope to the west of the British Isles have shown quite marked differences between areas in both the proportion and abundance of marketable or potentially marketable species. In general, the northern slopes lying to the west of Scotland were considered to have a greater potential for exploitation than the southern slopes off Ireland. Subsequent detailed studies of a northern (Rockall Trough) and a southern slope area (Porcupine Seabight) sampled the demersal fish fauna using a Granton trawl fished on paired warps to depths of 1200 m, and a semi-balloon trawl fished on a single warp to depths of about 3000 m. The Granton trawl catches differed significantly between the two areas, especially at the greatest depths fished. The semi-balloon trawl catches did not differ between the areas. This slower trawl was poor at catching large, mobile species and efficient in the capture of the deep-waler eel Synaphobranchus kaupi. This eel was numerically dominant over the mid to lower slope and probably accounts for much of the similarity between areas at these depths.

The salinity: δ18O water relationship in Kongsfjorden, western Spitsbergen

Abstract: We present the first oxygen isotope measurements from Kongsfjorden in north-west Spitsbergen, and use the isotopic composition and hydrographic data to provide a detailed assessment of the mixing between freshwater and oceanic waters. Temperature, salinity(s) and oxygen isotope profiles are used to describe the seasonal evolution of hydrography in the inner part of the fjord, and to infer the dominant mixing and exchange processes. Data from atmospheric, glacial and marine sources throughout Kongsfjorden are used to construct a salinity: δ 18 O mixing line in a region that receives inputs of freshwater and marine Atlantic water. The dominant source of freshwater is glacial melt from a tidewater glacier complex at the head of the fjord, resulting in a seawater salinity: δ 18 O relationship where δ 18 O = 0.43S − 14.65. The Kongsfjorden data provides a northern latitudinal limit for mixing lines in the northwestern European coastal system.