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Ecological Network Indicators of Ecosystem Status and Change in the Baltic Sea |
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| Authors: | Maciej T. Tomczak Johanna J. Heymans Johanna Yletyinen Susa Niiranen Saskia A. Otto Thorsten Blenckner |
| Affiliation: | 1. Baltic Sea Centre, Stockholm University, Stockholm, Sweden.; 2. Scottish Association for Marine Science, Scottish Marine Institute, Dunbeg, Oban, United Kingdom.; 3. Nordic Centre for Research on Marine Ecosystems and Resources under Climate Change (NorMER), Stockholm Resilience Centre, Stockholm University, Stockholm, Sweden.; 4. Stockholm Resilience Centre, Stockholm University, Stockholm, Sweden.; Technical University of Denmark, Denmark, |
| Abstract: | Several marine ecosystems under anthropogenic pressure have experienced shifts from one ecological state to another. In the central Baltic Sea, the regime shift of the 1980s has been associated with food-web reorganization and redirection of energy flow pathways. These long-term dynamics from 1974 to 2006 have been simulated here using a food-web model forced by climate and fishing. Ecological network analysis was performed to calculate indices of ecosystem change. The model replicated the regime shift. The analyses of indicators suggested that the system’s resilience was higher prior to 1988 and lower thereafter. The ecosystem topology also changed from a web-like structure to a linearized food-web. |
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