Questioning the Rise of Gelatinous Zooplankton in the World's Oceans
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Author(s)
Condon, Robert H
Graham, William M
Duarte, Carlos M
Pitt, Kylie A
Lucas, Cathy H
Haddock, Steven HD
Sutherland, Kelly R
Robinson, Kelly L
Dawson, Michael N
Decker, Mary Beth
Mills, Claudia E
Purcell, Jennifer E
Malej, Alenka
Mianzan, Hermes
Uye, Shin-Ichi
Gelcich, Stefan
Madin, Laurence P
Griffith University Author(s)
Year published
2012
Metadata
Show full item recordAbstract
During the past several decades, high numbers of gelatinous zooplankton species have been reported in many estuarine and coastal ecosystems. Coupled with media-driven public perception, a paradigm has evolved in which the global ocean ecosystems are thought to be heading toward being dominated by "nuisance" jellyfish. We question this current paradigm by presenting a broad overview of gelatinous zooplankton in a his- torical context to develop the hypothesis that population changes reflect the human-mediated alteration of global ocean ecosystems. To this end, we synthesize information related to the evolutionary context of ...
View more >During the past several decades, high numbers of gelatinous zooplankton species have been reported in many estuarine and coastal ecosystems. Coupled with media-driven public perception, a paradigm has evolved in which the global ocean ecosystems are thought to be heading toward being dominated by "nuisance" jellyfish. We question this current paradigm by presenting a broad overview of gelatinous zooplankton in a his- torical context to develop the hypothesis that population changes reflect the human-mediated alteration of global ocean ecosystems. To this end, we synthesize information related to the evolutionary context of contemporary gelatinous zooplankton blooms, the human frame of reference for changes in gelatinous zooplankton populations, and whether sufficient data are available to have established the paradigm. We conclude that the current paradigm in which it is believed that there has been a global increase in gelatinous zooplankton is unsubstantiated, and we develop a strat- egy for addressing the critical questions about long-term, human-related changes in the sea as they relate to gelatinous zooplankton blooms.
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View more >During the past several decades, high numbers of gelatinous zooplankton species have been reported in many estuarine and coastal ecosystems. Coupled with media-driven public perception, a paradigm has evolved in which the global ocean ecosystems are thought to be heading toward being dominated by "nuisance" jellyfish. We question this current paradigm by presenting a broad overview of gelatinous zooplankton in a his- torical context to develop the hypothesis that population changes reflect the human-mediated alteration of global ocean ecosystems. To this end, we synthesize information related to the evolutionary context of contemporary gelatinous zooplankton blooms, the human frame of reference for changes in gelatinous zooplankton populations, and whether sufficient data are available to have established the paradigm. We conclude that the current paradigm in which it is believed that there has been a global increase in gelatinous zooplankton is unsubstantiated, and we develop a strat- egy for addressing the critical questions about long-term, human-related changes in the sea as they relate to gelatinous zooplankton blooms.
View less >
Journal Title
BioScience
Volume
62
Issue
2
Copyright Statement
© 2012 American Institute of Biological Sciences. The attached file is reproduced here in accordance with the copyright policy of the publisher. Please refer to the journal's website for access to the definitive, published version.
Subject
Environmental sciences
Biological sciences
Marine and estuarine ecology (incl. marine ichthyology)