Cumulative human impacts in the Bering Strait Region
Introduction:Human impacts on Arctic marine ecosystems are increasing in extent and intensity as sea ice shrinks and utilization of marine resources expands. The effects of climate change are being felt across the arctic while stressors such as commercial fishing and shipping continue to grow as the...
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Format: | Article |
Language: | English |
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American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)
2017-08-01
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Series: | Ecosystem Health and Sustainability |
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Online Access: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/20964129.2017.1379888 |
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author | Jamie C. Afflerbach Dan Yocum Benjamin S. Halpern |
author_facet | Jamie C. Afflerbach Dan Yocum Benjamin S. Halpern |
author_sort | Jamie C. Afflerbach |
collection | DOAJ |
description | Introduction:Human impacts on Arctic marine ecosystems are increasing in extent and intensity as sea ice shrinks and utilization of marine resources expands. The effects of climate change are being felt across the arctic while stressors such as commercial fishing and shipping continue to grow as the Arctic becomes more accessible. Given these emerging changes, there is need for an assessment of the current cumulative impact of human activities to better anticipate and manage for a changing Arctic. Cumulative human impacts (CHI) assessments have been widely applied around the world in a variety of ecosystem types but have yet to incorporate temporal dynamics of individual stressors. Such dynamics are fundamental to Arctic ecosystems. Outcomes:Here, we present the first CHI assessment of an Arctic ecosystem to incorporate sea ice as a habitat and assess impact seasonality, using the Bering Strait Region (BSR) as a case study. We find that cumulative impacts differ seasonally, with lower impacts in winter and higher impacts in summer months. Large portions of the BSR have significantly different impacts within each season when compared to a mean annual cumulative impact map. Cumulative impacts also have great spatial variability, with Russian waters between 2.38 and 3.63 times as impacted as US waters. Conclusion:This assessment of seasonal and spatial cumulative impacts provides an understanding of the current reality in the BSR and can be used to support development and evaluation of future management scenarios that address expected impacts from climate change and increasing interest in the Arctic. |
first_indexed | 2024-03-12T08:45:21Z |
format | Article |
id | doaj.art-e9fa9148552d4999b5f2283b02765776 |
institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
issn | 2096-4129 2332-8878 |
language | English |
last_indexed | 2024-03-12T08:45:21Z |
publishDate | 2017-08-01 |
publisher | American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) |
record_format | Article |
series | Ecosystem Health and Sustainability |
spelling | doaj.art-e9fa9148552d4999b5f2283b027657762023-09-02T16:30:38ZengAmerican Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)Ecosystem Health and Sustainability2096-41292332-88782017-08-013810.1080/20964129.2017.13798881379888Cumulative human impacts in the Bering Strait RegionJamie C. Afflerbach0Dan Yocum1Benjamin S. Halpern2University of CaliforniaUniversity of CaliforniaUniversity of CaliforniaIntroduction:Human impacts on Arctic marine ecosystems are increasing in extent and intensity as sea ice shrinks and utilization of marine resources expands. The effects of climate change are being felt across the arctic while stressors such as commercial fishing and shipping continue to grow as the Arctic becomes more accessible. Given these emerging changes, there is need for an assessment of the current cumulative impact of human activities to better anticipate and manage for a changing Arctic. Cumulative human impacts (CHI) assessments have been widely applied around the world in a variety of ecosystem types but have yet to incorporate temporal dynamics of individual stressors. Such dynamics are fundamental to Arctic ecosystems. Outcomes:Here, we present the first CHI assessment of an Arctic ecosystem to incorporate sea ice as a habitat and assess impact seasonality, using the Bering Strait Region (BSR) as a case study. We find that cumulative impacts differ seasonally, with lower impacts in winter and higher impacts in summer months. Large portions of the BSR have significantly different impacts within each season when compared to a mean annual cumulative impact map. Cumulative impacts also have great spatial variability, with Russian waters between 2.38 and 3.63 times as impacted as US waters. Conclusion:This assessment of seasonal and spatial cumulative impacts provides an understanding of the current reality in the BSR and can be used to support development and evaluation of future management scenarios that address expected impacts from climate change and increasing interest in the Arctic.http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/20964129.2017.1379888Arctic marine ecosystemscumulative human impactsBering Straitsea iceclimate change |
spellingShingle | Jamie C. Afflerbach Dan Yocum Benjamin S. Halpern Cumulative human impacts in the Bering Strait Region Ecosystem Health and Sustainability Arctic marine ecosystems cumulative human impacts Bering Strait sea ice climate change |
title | Cumulative human impacts in the Bering Strait Region |
title_full | Cumulative human impacts in the Bering Strait Region |
title_fullStr | Cumulative human impacts in the Bering Strait Region |
title_full_unstemmed | Cumulative human impacts in the Bering Strait Region |
title_short | Cumulative human impacts in the Bering Strait Region |
title_sort | cumulative human impacts in the bering strait region |
topic | Arctic marine ecosystems cumulative human impacts Bering Strait sea ice climate change |
url | http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/20964129.2017.1379888 |
work_keys_str_mv | AT jamiecafflerbach cumulativehumanimpactsintheberingstraitregion AT danyocum cumulativehumanimpactsintheberingstraitregion AT benjaminshalpern cumulativehumanimpactsintheberingstraitregion |