Ecological Consequences of Sea Ice Decline

Question 1

What are some direct effects of sea ice loss?

Answer 1

Primary producers dependent upon sea ice as their habitat underpin the entire marine food web of the Arctic.
Vertebrate species dependent upon sea ice for foraging, reproduction, and resting.

Question 2

Example of how effecting primary producers effects higher consumers?

Answer 2

Disruption of the seasonality of the ice algal and phytoplankton blooms by ice thinning, accelerated melt timing which created mismatches for the timing of zooplankton production, with
consequences for higher consumers

Question 3

What are some indirect effects of sea ice loss?

Answer 3

Influence ecological dynamics
indirectly through effects on movement, population mixing, and pathogen transmission.
Genetic isolation.
Changes in animal behaviour = alter patterns of pathogen behaviour.