Document Type

Report

Publication Date

2017

Abstract/ Summary

Climate change is influencing ecosystem structure and function in oceans; changes such as ocean acidity levels, temperature and shifting species alter marine ecosystem food webs. Cobscook Bay is a boreal, macrotidal coastal estuary, located in Washington County, ME that is important ecologically and is threatened by climate change. As biologists consider the effects of climate change on ecosystems such as Cobscook Bay, it is a topic of interest to consider what is the most critical threat. The purpose of this study was to simulate the effects of climate change on Cobscook Bay food webs to determine the biggest impact of climate change could have on the system. We conducted primary literature searches to generate scenarios and model parameters for the Ecopath with Ecosim simulation model software. We used these scenarios in the Ecopath with Ecosim program to change species’ overall biomass that were expected to be adversely affected by scenarios by percent change intervals of 15. In this study, it was found that for there to be a detrimental impact on the Cobscook Bay ecosystem there must be a biomass loss of zooplankton by 95% for ocean warming and a biomass loss of shell forming organisms by 95% for ocean acidification. In contrast, it was also found there must be a 275% increase in biomass of green crabs (Carcinus maenas) for species shifts to cause a detrimental change on the system. The results this study suggest that ocean warming and ocean acidification pose an equal threat to the food web of Cobscook Bay while species shifts pose a less urgent, but still serious threat in the face of climate change.

Version

other

Download

Share