Past and Future Grand Challenges in Marine Ecosystem Ecology

• Published in: Frontiers in Marine Science Vol. 7
• Main Authors: Borja, Angel, Andersen, Jesper H., Arvanitidis, Christos D., Basset, Alberto, Buhl-Mortensen, Lene, Carvalho, Susana, Dafforn, Katherine A., Devlin, Michelle J., Escobar-Briones, Elva G., Grenz, Christian, Harder, Tilmann, Katsanevakis, Stelios, Liu, Dongyan, Metaxas, Anna, Morán, Xosé Anxelu G., Newton, Alice, Piroddi, Chiara, Pochon, Xavier, Queirós, Ana M., Snelgrove, Paul V. R., Solidoro, Cosimo, St. John, Michael A., Teixeira, Heliana
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Lausanne Frontiers Research Foundation 03.06.2020; Frontiers Media; Frontiers Media S.A
• Subjects: Areas beyond national jurisdiction; Biodiversity; Biodiversity and Ecology; Citations; Climate change; Coastal ecosystems; Deep sea; Deep water; Ecology; Ecosystem approach to fisheries; ecosystem functioning; ecosystem health assessment; Ecosystem management; Ecosystem services; Ecosystems; Environment and Society; Environmental changes; Environmental impact; Environmental Sciences; Exploration; global change; Global Changes; Habitat loss; human pressures; Human-environment relationship; Hydrocarbons; Introduced species; Invasive species; Jurisdiction; Marine conservation; Marine ecosystems; Mitigation; Ocean, Atmosphere; Offshore; Restoration; Science; Sciences of the Universe; Sustainability; Sustainable development; Terrestrial environments; Underwater exploration; Urban development; Urbanization; Borja Spain; Spain; ecosystem health assessment; biodiversity; ecosystem functioning; global change; human pressures; ecosystem-based management; ecosystem services; conservation and protection
• ISSN: 2296-7745; 2296-7745
• DOI: 10.3389/fmars.2020.00362

[...]of the top papers assigned to each challenge, those assessing ocean health received the highest annual mean number of citations, followed by papers on understanding relationships between human pressures and ecosystems, and those dealing with understanding the role of biodiversity in maintaining ecosystems functionality (Table 1). To date, restoration efforts have focused on coastal ecosystems, but with increasing exploration for hydrocarbons and other resources offshore and in areas beyond national jurisdiction, approaches for deep-sea and open sea restoration should be explored and tested; (N4) Moving from descriptive studies to those providing functional assessments, improving the understanding of marine ecosystems, supporting management and sustainability strategies for human activities in the ocean, in line with the UN DOSSD; (N5) Understanding the cause-effect pathways and the response of ecosystems to increasing cumulative human impacts and climate change (Ortiz et al., 2018), as drivers of shifts in most marine ecosystems, altering species distributions and threatening biodiversity (Halpern et al., 2019). [...]this challenge is complex and requires novel methods of assessment and models spanning across disciplines (Crain et al., 2008; Phillips et al., 2019). Important knowledge gaps restrict our understanding of traits that facilitate invasions and the magnitude of their impacts, our capacity to predict future shifts in ecosystem processes and functioning due to invasive species, and our ability to propose adequate mitigation measures; (S3) Assessing urban development and subsequent loss of natural coastlines and ecosystem services (Barragán and de Andrés, 2015) (S4) Understanding the impacts of human activities as well as climate change in the deep ocean (Levin and Le Bris, 2015; Danovaro et al., 2017) (S5) Considering the land-ocean continuum, with major terrestrial and riverine inputs to the ocean (Xenopoulos et al., 2017).