ORCID Profile
0000-0003-1336-5554
Current Organisations
KU Leuven
,
Université Libre de Bruxelles
,
Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences
,
Université Libre de Bruxelles (ULB)
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Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 09-2016
Publisher: Frontiers Media SA
Date: 07-02-2023
DOI: 10.3389/FMARS.2022.981434
Abstract: Mesopelagic fishes play a central role in the transfer of energy through open-ocean food webs, particularly in the Southern Ocean where they are both important predators of zooplankton and a key prey group for many higher predators. However, they are notoriously difficult to s le, which has limited our understanding of the bio-physical predictors of their abundance and spatiotemporal variability. Species distribution models can be used to help understand species’ ecological requirements by relating records of their presence or abundance to environmental data. Here, we used data from Myctobase – a new circumpolar database of mesopelagic fishes – to model patterns in abundance of eight key myctophid species (family Myctophidae) and the genus Bathylagus in the Southern Ocean south of 45°S. We developed species-specific boosted regression tree models to obtain circumpolar predictions of abundance. Average daytime and night-time summer predictions for the period 1997 to 2011 at 0 to 200m depths were generated for each species. Depth and solar position were important predictors and species were stratified in their depth distribution. For all species, except for G. nicholsi , there was an interaction between depth of capture and solar position, reflecting diel vertical migration. Other important variables included sea surface temperature, dissolved oxygen at 200 m, chlorophyll a , and sea surface height, indicating an association with water mass properties. Circumpolar patterns of abundance varied between species with some displaying affinities for oceanic regions at Antarctic latitudes (e.g., E. antarctica and Bathylagus spp.) or sub-Antarctic latitudes (e.g., K. anderssoni and P. tenisoni ) and affinities for shelf regions (e.g., P. bolini and G. nicholsi ). Our findings suggest that the abundance of mesopelagic fish is influenced by diel vertical migration and meso- and sub-mesoscale oceanographic features, with the Polar Front being a major delimiting feature. Our study showed contrasting patterns in community composition with higher species ersity north of the Polar Front that might be indicative of latitudinal variability in food web structure. Our spatial analysis is an important step toward resolving what determines important habitat for mesopelagic fishes, providing foundational information for understanding shifting food web dynamics into the future.
Publisher: Front Matter
Date: 19-05-2020
DOI: 10.59350/YWAQE-9H090
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 18-07-2018
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 09-2019
Publisher: Frontiers Media SA
Date: 25-06-2021
Abstract: Southern Ocean ecosystems are globally important and vulnerable to global drivers of change, yet they remain challenging to study. Fish and squid make up a significant portion of the biomass within the Southern Ocean, filling key roles in food webs from forage to mid-trophic species and top predators. They comprise a erse array of species uniquely adapted to the extreme habitats of the region. Adaptations such as antifreeze glycoproteins, lipid-retention, extended larval phases, delayed senescence, and energy-conserving life strategies equip Antarctic fish and squid to withstand the dark winters and yearlong subzero temperatures experienced in much of the Southern Ocean. In addition to krill exploitation, the comparatively high commercial value of Antarctic fish, particularly the lucrative toothfish, drives fisheries interests, which has included illegal fishing. Uncertainty about the population dynamics of target species and ecosystem structure and function more broadly has necessitated a precautionary, ecosystem approach to managing these stocks and enabling the recovery of depleted species. Fisheries currently remain the major local driver of change in Southern Ocean fish productivity, but global climate change presents an even greater challenge to assessing future changes. Parts of the Southern Ocean are experiencing ocean-warming, such as the West Antarctic Peninsula, while other areas, such as the Ross Sea shelf, have undergone cooling in recent years. These trends are expected to result in a redistribution of species based on their tolerances to different temperature regimes. Climate variability may impair the migratory response of these species to environmental change, while imposing increased pressures on recruitment. Fisheries and climate change, coupled with related local and global drivers such as pollution and sea ice change, have the potential to produce synergistic impacts that compound the risks to Antarctic fish and squid species. The uncertainty surrounding how different species will respond to these challenges, given their varying life histories, environmental dependencies, and resiliencies, necessitates regular assessment to inform conservation and management decisions. Urgent attention is needed to determine whether the current management strategies are suitably precautionary to achieve conservation objectives in light of the impending changes to the ecosystem.
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 13-07-2022
DOI: 10.1038/S41597-022-01496-Y
Abstract: The global importance of mesopelagic fish is increasingly recognised, but they remain poorly studied. This is particularly true in the Southern Ocean, where mesopelagic fishes are both key predators and prey, but where the remote environment makes s ling challenging. Despite this, multiple national Antarctic research programs have undertaken regional s ling of mesopelagic fish over several decades. However, data are dispersed, and s ling methodologies often differ precluding comparisons and limiting synthetic analyses. We identified potential data holders by compiling a metadata catalogue of existing survey data for Southern Ocean mesopelagic fishes. Data holders contributed 17,491 occurrence and 11,190 abundance records from 4780 net hauls from 72 different research cruises. Data span across 37 years from 1991 to 2019 and include trait-based information (length, weight, maturity). The final dataset underwent quality control processes and detailed metadata was provided for each s ling event. This dataset can be accessed through Zenodo. Myctobase will enhance research capacity by providing the broadscale baseline data necessary for observing and modelling mesopelagic fishes.
Publisher: Frontiers Media SA
Date: 05-10-2021
DOI: 10.3389/FMARS.2021.637063
Abstract: Southern Ocean ecosystems offer numerous benefits to human society and the global environment, and maintaining them requires well-informed and effective ecosystem-based management. Up to date and accurate information is needed on the status of species, communities, habitats and ecosystems and the impacts of fisheries, tourism and climate change. This information can be used to generate indicators and undertake assessments to advise decision-makers. Currently, most marine assessments are derivative: reliant on the review of published peer-reviewed literature. More timely and accurate information for decision making requires an integrated Marine Biological Observing and Informatics System that combines and distributes data. For such a system to work, data needs to be shared according to the FAIR principles (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, and Reusable), use transparent and reproducible science, adhere to the principle of action ecology and complement global initiatives. Here we aim to provide an overview of the components of such a system currently in place for the Southern Ocean, the existing gaps and a framework for a way forward.
Publisher: Frontiers Media SA
Date: 13-05-2021
DOI: 10.3389/FMARS.2021.622721
Abstract: Knowledge of life on the Southern Ocean seafloor has substantially grown since the beginning of this century with increasing ship-based surveys and regular monitoring sites, new technologies and greatly enhanced data sharing. However, seafloor habitats and their communities exhibit high spatial variability and heterogeneity that challenges the way in which we assess the state of the Southern Ocean benthos on larger scales. The Antarctic shelf is rich in ersity compared with deeper water areas, important for storing carbon (“blue carbon”) and provides habitat for commercial fish species. In this paper, we focus on the seafloor habitats of the Antarctic shelf, which are vulnerable to drivers of change including increasing ocean temperatures, iceberg scour, sea ice melt, ocean acidification, fishing pressures, pollution and non-indigenous species. Some of the most vulnerable areas include the West Antarctic Peninsula, which is experiencing rapid regional warming and increased iceberg-scouring, subantarctic islands and tourist destinations where human activities and environmental conditions increase the potential for the establishment of non-indigenous species and active fishing areas around South Georgia, Heard and MacDonald Islands. Vulnerable species include those in areas of regional warming with low thermal tolerance, calcifying species susceptible to increasing ocean acidity as well as slow-growing habitat-forming species that can be damaged by fishing gears e.g., sponges, bryozoan, and coral species. Management regimes can protect seafloor habitats and key species from fishing activities some areas will need more protection than others, accounting for specific traits that make species vulnerable, slow growing and long-lived species, restricted locations with optimum physiological conditions and available food, and restricted distributions of rare species. Ecosystem-based management practices and long-term, highly protected areas may be the most effective tools in the preservation of vulnerable seafloor habitats. Here, we focus on outlining seafloor responses to drivers of change observed to date and projections for the future. We discuss the need for action to preserve seafloor habitats under climate change, fishing pressures and other anthropogenic impacts.
Publisher: Pensoft Publishers
Date: 03-10-2023
Publisher: Inter-Research Science Center
Date: 03-07-2012
DOI: 10.3354/MEPS09831
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 18-04-2020
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 08-2022
Publisher: Copernicus GmbH
Date: 23-11-2022
Abstract: Abstract. Systematic long-term studies on ecosystem dynamics are largely lacking from the East Antarctic Southern Ocean, although it is well recognized that they are indispensable to identify the ecological impacts and risks of environmental change. Here, we present a framework for establishing a long-term cross-disciplinary study on decadal timescales. We argue that the eastern Weddell Sea and the adjacent sea to the east, off Dronning Maud Land, is a particularly well suited area for such a study, since it is based on findings from previous expeditions to this region. Moreover, since climate and environmental change have so far been comparatively muted in this area, as in the eastern Antarctic in general, a systematic long-term study of its environmental and ecological state can provide a baseline of the current situation, which will be important for an assessment of future changes from their very onset, with consistent and comparable time series data underpinning and testing models and their projections. By establishing an Integrated East Antarctic Marine Research (IEAMaR) observatory, long-term changes in ocean dynamics, geochemistry, bio ersity, and ecosystem functions and services will be systematically explored and mapped through regular autonomous and ship-based synoptic surveys. An associated long-term ecological research (LTER) programme, including experimental and modelling work, will allow for studying climate-driven ecosystem changes and interactions with impacts arising from other anthropogenic activities. This integrative approach will provide a level of long-term data availability and ecosystem understanding that are imperative to determine, understand, and project the consequences of climate change and support a sound science-informed management of future conservation efforts in the Southern Ocean.
Publisher: Pensoft Publishers
Date: 14-06-2022
Abstract: This dataset contains information on specimens of Southern Ocean Pycnogonida (Arthropoda), that were collected from ten different research cruises, spanning 13 years. The in idual aims and objectives of each cruise can be found in their cruise reports. The specimens have been collated into a single dataset, forming the basis of J. Maxwell’s PhD. The dataset will be used to investigate the community structure of Antarctic pycnogonids and the factors which influence its composition. This dataset is published by SCAR-AntOBIS under the licence CC-BY 4.0. Please follow the guidelines from the SCAR and IPY Data Policies (xcom-meetings/xxxi-scar-delegates-2010-buenos-aires-argentina/4563-scar-xxxi-ip04b-scar-data-policy/file/) when using the data. If you have any questions regarding this dataset, please do not hesitate to contact us via the contact information provided in the metadata or via data-bio ersity-aq@naturalsciences.be. This dataset adds vital occurrence and abundance data for pycnogonids from 10 previously unexamined research cruises from the Weddell Sea, Antarctic Penisula and the islands of the Scotia Arc. It includes the first pycnogonid data from the Prince Gustav Channel. The 197 s ling stations within this dataset represent an 11% increase in the number of stations where pycnogonids have been recorded in the Southern Ocean, southern South America and New Zealand waters and an 18% increase for above 60 degrees latitude. Presence data for any observed epifauna are also included.
Publisher: Frontiers Media SA
Date: 14-10-2021
Abstract: Graphical summary of multiple aspects of Southern Ocean food web structure and function including alternative energy pathways through pelagic food webs, climate change and fisheries impacts and the importance of microbial networks and benthic systems.
Publisher: Pensoft Publishers
Date: 09-01-2017
DOI: 10.3897/BDJ.5.E10989
Publisher: Ubiquity Press, Ltd.
Date: 2023
DOI: 10.5334/DSJ-2023-018
Publisher: Frontiers Media SA
Date: 07-08-2019
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 18-03-2020
DOI: 10.1038/S41597-020-0406-X
Abstract: The Retrospective Analysis of Antarctic Tracking Data (RAATD) is a Scientific Committee for Antarctic Research project led jointly by the Expert Groups on Birds and Marine Mammals and Antarctic Bio ersity Informatics, and endorsed by the Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources. RAATD consolidated tracking data for multiple species of Antarctic meso- and top-predators to identify Areas of Ecological Significance. These datasets and accompanying syntheses provide a greater understanding of fundamental ecosystem processes in the Southern Ocean, support modelling of predator distributions under future climate scenarios and create inputs that can be incorporated into decision making processes by management authorities. In this data paper, we present the compiled tracking data from research groups that have worked in the Antarctic since the 1990s. The data are publicly available through bio ersity.aq and the Ocean Biogeographic Information System. The archive includes tracking data from over 70 contributors across 12 national Antarctic programs, and includes data from 17 predator species, 4060 in idual animals, and over 2.9 million observed locations.
No related grants have been discovered for Anton Van de Putte.