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Biogeochemical consequences of a changing Arctic shelf seafloor ecosystem

März, Christian; Freitas, Felipe S.; Faust, Johan C.; Godbold, Jasmin A.; Henley, Sian F.; Tessin, Allyson C.; Abbott, Geoffrey D.; Airs, Ruth; Arndt, Sandra; Barnes, David K.A.; Grange, Laura J.; Gray, Neil D.; Head, Ian M.; Hendry, Katharine R.; Hilton, Robert G.; Reed, Adam J.; Rühl, Saskia; Solan, Martin; Souster, Terri A.; Stevenson, Mark A.; Tait, Karen; Ward, James; Widdicombe, Stephen

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Authors

Christian März

Felipe S. Freitas

Johan C. Faust

Jasmin A. Godbold

Sian F. Henley

Allyson C. Tessin

Geoffrey D. Abbott

Ruth Airs

Sandra Arndt

David K.A. Barnes

Laura J. Grange

Neil D. Gray

Ian M. Head

Katharine R. Hendry

Robert G. Hilton

Adam J. Reed

Saskia Rühl

Martin Solan

Terri A. Souster

Karen Tait

James Ward

Stephen Widdicombe



Abstract

Unprecedented and dramatic transformations are occurring in the Arctic in response to climate change, but academic, public, and political discourse has disproportionately focussed on the most visible and direct aspects of change, including sea ice melt, permafrost thaw, the fate of charismatic megafauna, and the expansion of fisheries. Such narratives disregard the importance of less visible and indirect processes and, in particular, miss the substantive contribution of the shelf seafloor in regulating nutrients and sequestering carbon. Here, we summarise the biogeochemical functioning of the Arctic shelf seafloor before considering how climate change and regional adjustments to human activities may alter its biogeochemical and ecological dynamics, including ecosystem function, carbon burial, or nutrient recycling. We highlight the importance of the Arctic benthic system in mitigating climatic and anthropogenic change and, with a focus on the Barents Sea, offer some observations and our perspectives on future management and policy.

Citation

März, C., Freitas, F. S., Faust, J. C., Godbold, J. A., Henley, S. F., Tessin, A. C., …Widdicombe, S. (2022). Biogeochemical consequences of a changing Arctic shelf seafloor ecosystem. AMBIO: A Journal of the Human Environment, 51, 370-382. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13280-021-01638-3

Journal Article Type Article
Acceptance Date Sep 22, 2021
Online Publication Date Oct 9, 2021
Publication Date 2022-02
Deposit Date Nov 29, 2021
Publicly Available Date Mar 28, 2024
Journal AMBIO: A Journal of the Human Environment
Print ISSN 0044-7447
Electronic ISSN 1654-7209
Publisher Springer
Peer Reviewed Peer Reviewed
Volume 51
Pages 370-382
DOI https://doi.org/10.1007/s13280-021-01638-3

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Publisher Licence URL
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Copyright Statement
This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article's Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article's Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.




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