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A trophic mass balance model of the eastern Chukchi Sea with comparisons to other high-latitude systems

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Abstract

The Chukchi Sea is a seasonally ice-covered, marginal Arctic-shelf sea that possesses both large petroleum reserves and abundant biological communities, including migratory mammals and seabirds. We developed a mass balance food web model for the eastern Chukchi Sea to evaluate the trophic structure of this ecosystem and to compare food web properties of the Chukchi Sea to those of other high-latitude marine ecosystems. We compiled data on biomass levels, diet composition, demographic rates (production, consumption), and fishery removals, and used these data to construct an Ecopath trophic mass balance model. The majority of biomass was concentrated in benthic invertebrates and most of the mass flow above trophic level 2.0 was through these groups. We found that density estimates of most fish groups derived from trawl survey data using area-swept methods were insufficient to match the consumptive demands of predators, and that densities needed to be several-fold greater to meet modeled demand. We also used a set of system metrics derived from a common modeling framework to highlight differences in ecosystem structure between the eastern Chukchi Sea and other high-latitude systems. The extent of benthic dominance observed in the eastern Chukchi Sea was unique among the systems examined, both in terms of food web structure and associated mass flows between benthic and pelagic components. In relation to total biomass density, the eastern Chukchi Sea had low production when compared with the other systems, and this lower turnover rate suggests that recovery from disturbance might be slow.

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Acknowledgments

Funding for this project was provided by the Alaska Fisheries Science Center’s Resource Ecology and Ecosystem Modeling (REEM) Program. This work was improved by the insightful comments and suggestions of P. Boveng, J. Clarke, L. Eisner, M. Ferguson, N. Friday, S. Kotwicki, K. Laidre, M. Martin, B. Norcross, S. Moore, K. Rand, E. Regehr, R. Suydam, and K. Weinberg. Thank you to B. Lauth and the REEM Food Habits Laboratory for supplying data. Thanks also to A. Grieg, G. Lang, G. Mundell and N. Roberson for additional database support. S. Gaichas and I. Ortiz provided invaluable assistance with modeling and graphics. We are grateful to M. Ferguson, L. Logerwell, and two anonymous reviewers who provided valuable comments and criticisms on earlier versions of this paper. The findings and conclusions in the paper are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the views of the National Marine Fisheries Service. This publication is [partially] funded by the Joint Institute for the Study of the Atmosphere and Ocean (JISAO) under NOAA Cooperative Agreement No. NA10OAR4320148, Contribution No. 2101.

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  1. School of Aquatic and Fishery Sciences, University of Washington, Box 355020, Seattle, WA, 98195-5020, USA

    G. Andy Whitehouse, Timothy E. Essington & George L. Hunt Jr.

  2. NOAA Alaska Fisheries Science Center, 7600 Sand Point Way NE, Seattle, WA, 98115, USA

    G. Andy Whitehouse & Kerim Aydin

  3. Joint Institute for the Study of the Atmosphere and Ocean, University of Washington, Box 354925, Seattle, WA, 98195, USA

    G. Andy Whitehouse

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  1. G. Andy Whitehouse
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Correspondence to G. Andy Whitehouse.

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Whitehouse, G.A., Aydin, K., Essington, T.E. et al. A trophic mass balance model of the eastern Chukchi Sea with comparisons to other high-latitude systems. Polar Biol 37, 911–939 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00300-014-1490-1

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