Can we detect changes in Arctic ecosystems? (ARISE)
The ARISE project is a £2.1 million, three year (2017-2020) research programme funded by the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) as part of the Changing Arctic Ocean (CAO) programme. The ARISE project sets out to understand Arctic ecosystem responses to rapid environmental change by identifying how Arctic food webs are changing now and in the recent past.
Rapid environmental change is affecting Arctic ecosystems as the Arctic Ocean is adjusting to new, warmer conditions. It is essential to understand the ecosystem response if the projections of future impacts are to be reliable as ocean ecosystems provide key services, such as control of climate and nutrient cycling. This response can be gauged by establishing how Arctic food webs are changing.
Further information can be found on the Changing Arctic Ocean ARISE webpage.
Participants
There are seven organisations involved in the ARISE project, these are:
- University of Liverpool
- National Oceanography Centre (NOC)
- University of Manchester
- Plymouth Marine Laboratory (PML)
- University of St Andrews
- University of Edinburgh
- Sir Alister Hardy Foundation for Ocean Science (SAHFOS)
- Scottish Association for Marine Science (SAMS)
In addition to these core organisations, there are 22 international collaborators involved in the project. This international collaboration may also result in the exchange of data with external partners.
Research Details
The ARISE project aims to understand Arctic ecosystem responses to rapid environmental change using a new set of tools that are able to detect pan-Arctic modifications to ecosystems and evaluate past and future change across a diverse set of Arctic environments whilst avoiding studies at a single site. ARISE combines pan-Arctic historical and contemporary observations with traditional isotope and novel biomarkers as food web tracers to gain a complete understanding of how environmental change affects both the base of the food web and two Arctic seal species, considered indicator species.
The project has three hypotheses that will be tested by three objectives designed around a stepwise accumulation of understanding. A fourth objective links the findings of the project to the conservation and management of seals in the Arctic.
Objectives
- Gain observational constraints on how environmental variability affects the isotope composition of the base of the food web, the isoscape.
- Combine data on seal foraging and migration to understand how variability in the isoscape is reflected in biomarker signals in seals.
- Use historical observations and link the new understanding to ocean and seal population models to provide a broad picture of factors driving past and contemporary Arctic ecosystem change.
- Quantitatively assess the conservation and management implications of the results, with strong links to stakeholders and policy makers.
Fieldwork and Data Collection
The project participates in a number of cruises during 2017 and 2018, primarily onboard the NERC research vessel RRS James Clark Ross. The aim of the data collection is to collect samples for δ15N of nitrate, particulate material and zooplankton to investigate the variability in the isoscape. The datasets collected include: CTD profiles; underway navigation, surface hydrography and meteorology; 13C-DIC, 15N, 18O-nitrate and 15N-DON samples; POM samples; zooplankton nets; stable nitrogen and carbon isotopes water samples; table nitrogen and carbon isotopes biomarkers particle samples; table nitrogen and carbon isotopes biomarker content and molecular data from zooplankton; seal tags; biomarker samples from seal tissue; 15N and 13C samples from seal teeth and Continuous Plankton Recorder zooplankton data from Arctic route. Telemetry is also used to track harp seals during the project.
