155
© The Author(s) 2018
S. Jungblut et al. (eds.), YOUMARES 8 – Oceans Across Boundaries: Learning from each other,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-93284-2_11
Regime Shifts – A Global Challenge
for the Sustainable Use of Our Marine
Resources
Camilla Sguotti and Xochitl Cormon
Abstract
Over the last decades many marine systems have undergone drastic changes often resulting in new ecologically
structured and sometimes economically less valuable
states. In particular, the additive effects of anthropogenic
stressors (e.g., fishing, climate change) seem to play a
fundamental role in causing unexpected and sudden shifts
between system states, generally termed regime shifts.
Recently, many examples of regime shifts have been documented worldwide and their mechanisms and consequences have been vigorously discussed. Understanding
causes and mechanisms of regime shifts is of great importance for the sustainable use of natural resources and their
management, especially in marine ecosystems. Hence, we
conducted a session entitled “Ecosystem dynamics in a
changing world, regime shifts and resilience in marine
communities” during the 8th YOUMARES conference
(Kiel, 13–15th September 2017) to present regime shifts
concepts and examples to a broad range of marine scientists (e.g., biologists and/or ecologists, physicists, climatologists, sociologists) and highlight their importance for
the marine ecosystems worldwide.
In this chapter, we first provide examples of regime
shifts which have occurred over the last decades in our
oceans and discuss their potential implications for the
sustainable use of marine resources; then we review
regime shift theory and associated concepts. Finally, we
review recent advances and future challenges to integrate
regime shift theory into holistic marine ecosystem-based
management approaches.
Introduction
Today, living marine resources represent a primary source of
proteins for more than 2.6 billion people and support the
livelihoods of about 11% of the world’s population
(UNESCO 2012; FAO 2014). Oceans worldwide concentrate
dense and diversified human activities, e.g., fishing, tourism,
shipping, offshore energy production, while experiencing a
range of environmental pressures, e.g., increase of water
temperature, acidification (Halpern et al. 2008; Boyd et al.
2014). Together anthropogenic and environmental pressures
may threaten the integrity of marine systems and their sustainable use, altering their different components in many
ways. These ecosystem changes may have great impacts for
the social-ecological systems they are a part of, particularly
when associated with changes in ecological keystone, cultural and/or commercial species (Garibaldi and Turner 2004;
Casini et al. 2008a; Möllmann et al. 2008; Llope et al. 2011;
Blenckner et al. 2015b).
The World Summit on Sustainable Development in
Johannesburg (2002) provided a legally binding framework
to implement the Ecosystem Approach to Fisheries
Management (EAFM). This holistic approach aims (i) to
conserve the structure, diversity and functioning of marine
ecosystems and (ii) to provide the economic benefits of a
sustainable exploitation of marine ecosystems. Scientific
activities supporting approaches such as the EAFM are
hence highly encouraged (FAO 2003). However, the insufficient knowledge on the diversity and entanglement of interactions between the ecological system components (deYoung
et al. 2008), as well as their vulnerability to increasing
anthropogenic and environmental pressures, may hinder successful management.
Even if systems may react to stressors in a non-linear way
shifting suddenly to a different state and losing important
ecosystem services, management is indeed still more based
on continuous dynamics (Scheffer et al. 2001; Sugihara et al.
2012; Glaser et al. 2014; Travis et al. 2014; Levin and
C. Sguotti (*) · X. Cormon (*)
Institute for Marine Ecosystem and Fishery Science, Centre for
Earth System Research and Sustainability (CEN), University of
Hamburg, Hamburg, Germany
e-mail: camilla.sguotti@uni-hamburg.de;
xochitl.cormon@uni-hamburg.de
© The Author(s) 2018
S. Jungblut et al. (eds.), YOUMARES 8 – Oceans Across Boundaries: Learning from each other,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-93284-2_11
Regime Shifts – A Global Challenge
for the Sustainable Use of Our Marine
Resources
Camilla Sguotti and Xochitl Cormon
Abstract
Over the last decades many marine systems have undergone drastic changes often resulting in new ecologically
structured and sometimes economically less valuable
states. In particular, the additive effects of anthropogenic
stressors (e.g., fishing, climate change) seem to play a
fundamental role in causing unexpected and sudden shifts
between system states, generally termed regime shifts.
Recently, many examples of regime shifts have been documented worldwide and their mechanisms and consequences have been vigorously discussed. Understanding
causes and mechanisms of regime shifts is of great importance for the sustainable use of natural resources and their
management, especially in marine ecosystems. Hence, we
conducted a session entitled “Ecosystem dynamics in a
changing world, regime shifts and resilience in marine
communities” during the 8th YOUMARES conference
(Kiel, 13–15th September 2017) to present regime shifts
concepts and examples to a broad range of marine scientists (e.g., biologists and/or ecologists, physicists, climatologists, sociologists) and highlight their importance for
the marine ecosystems worldwide.
In this chapter, we first provide examples of regime
shifts which have occurred over the last decades in our
oceans and discuss their potential implications for the
sustainable use of marine resources; then we review
regime shift theory and associated concepts. Finally, we
review recent advances and future challenges to integrate
regime shift theory into holistic marine ecosystem-based
management approaches.
Introduction
Today, living marine resources represent a primary source of
proteins for more than 2.6 billion people and support the
livelihoods of about 11% of the world’s population
(UNESCO 2012; FAO 2014). Oceans worldwide concentrate
dense and diversified human activities, e.g., fishing, tourism,
shipping, offshore energy production, while experiencing a
range of environmental pressures, e.g., increase of water
temperature, acidification (Halpern et al. 2008; Boyd et al.
2014). Together anthropogenic and environmental pressures
may threaten the integrity of marine systems and their sustainable use, altering their different components in many
ways. These ecosystem changes may have great impacts for
the social-ecological systems they are a part of, particularly
when associated with changes in ecological keystone, cultural and/or commercial species (Garibaldi and Turner 2004;
Casini et al. 2008a; Möllmann et al. 2008; Llope et al. 2011;
Blenckner et al. 2015b).
The World Summit on Sustainable Development in
Johannesburg (2002) provided a legally binding framework
to implement the Ecosystem Approach to Fisheries
Management (EAFM). This holistic approach aims (i) to
conserve the structure, diversity and functioning of marine
ecosystems and (ii) to provide the economic benefits of a
sustainable exploitation of marine ecosystems. Scientific
activities supporting approaches such as the EAFM are
hence highly encouraged (FAO 2003). However, the insufficient knowledge on the diversity and entanglement of interactions between the ecological system components (deYoung
et al. 2008), as well as their vulnerability to increasing
anthropogenic and environmental pressures, may hinder successful management.
Even if systems may react to stressors in a non-linear way
shifting suddenly to a different state and losing important
ecosystem services, management is indeed still more based
on continuous dynamics (Scheffer et al. 2001; Sugihara et al.
2012; Glaser et al. 2014; Travis et al. 2014; Levin and
C. Sguotti (*) · X. Cormon (*)
Institute for Marine Ecosystem and Fishery Science, Centre for
Earth System Research and Sustainability (CEN), University of
Hamburg, Hamburg, Germany
e-mail: camilla.sguotti@uni-hamburg.de;
xochitl.cormon@uni-hamburg.de