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Climate-Caused Abrupt Shifts in a European Macrotidal Estuary

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Abstract

Although many consequences of climate change on marine and terrestrial ecosystems are well documented, the characterisation of estuarine ecosystems specific responses and the drivers of the changes are less understood. In this study, we considered the biggest Southwestern European estuary, the Gironde, as a model of a macrotidal estuary to assess the effects of both large- (i.e., North Atlantic basin-scale) and regional-scale climate changes. Using a unique set of data on climatic, physical, chemical and biological parameters for the period 1978–2009, we examined relations between changes in both the physical and chemical environments and pelagic communities (plankton and fish) via an end-to-end approach. Our results show that the estuary experienced two abrupt shifts (∼1987 and ∼2000) over the last three decades, which altered the whole system. The timing of these abrupt shifts are in accordance with abrupt shifts reported in both marine (e.g., in the North Sea, the Mediterranean Sea and along the Atlantic) and terrestrial (e.g., in European lakes) realms. Although this work does not allow a full understanding of the dynamical processes through which climate effects propagate along the different compartments of the ecosystem, it provides evidence that the dynamics of the largest estuary of Southwest Europe is strongly modulated by climate change at both regional and global scales.

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Acknowledgements

We express our thanks to staff of the National Institute for the Sciences of the Universe (INSU), and especially of the Aquitaine Observatory of the Sciences of the Universe (OASU), to the Irstea Bordeaux and the entire SOMLIT team—technicians, researchers, captains and crews—who have contributed to the collection of samples since 1978. Data since 1997 are available at http://somlit.epoc.u-bordeaux1.fr/fr. Special thanks are due to Ms. Gaëlle Pauliac and Mr. Boris Phu for their comments and suggestions and to the anonymous referees for their valuable comments and revision that improved the quality of this paper. We also thank Méteo France for providing us meteorological data. This monitoring program was supported by Electricité de France (EDF), the Institut Français de Recherche pour l'Exploitation de la Mer (IFREMER) and the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS). This study was funded by the Conseil Régional d'Aquitaine.

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  1. Université Bordeaux 1, Environnements et Paléoenvironnements Océaniques et Continentaux, CNRS UMR 5805 (EPOC), Station Marine d’Arcachon, 2 Rue du Pr. Jolyet, 33120, Arcachon, France

    Aurélie Chaalali & Benoît Sautour

  2. Laboratoire d’Océanologie et de Géosciences, CNRS UMR 8187 (LOG), Station Marine de Wimereux, 28 avenue Foch, 62930, Wimereux, France

    Grégory Beaugrand

  3. Irstea, Unité Ecosystèmes estuariens et Poissons migrateurs amphihalins, 50 avenue de Verdun, 33612, Cestas Gazinet, France

    Philippe Boët

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  1. Aurélie Chaalali
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Correspondence to Aurélie Chaalali.

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Chaalali, A., Beaugrand, G., Boët, P. et al. Climate-Caused Abrupt Shifts in a European Macrotidal Estuary. Estuaries and Coasts 36, 1193–1205 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12237-013-9628-x

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