Coordinating International Research on Southern Ocean Ecosystems: Implementation of the ICED Programme

南大洋拥有独特而标志性的生态系统。它包括大量磷虾储备，有可能取代其他地方日益减少的渔获量。它通过吸收温室气体帮助稳定全球气候，并提供一些维持其他海洋生命的关键营养物质。这些功能强调了南大洋生态系统在整个地球运作中的关键作用。有强有力的证据表明，气候变化给南大洋生态系统带来的风险比几乎任何其他海洋生态系统都更为严重和紧迫。这威胁到生态系统提供上述好处的能力。需要评估南大洋生态系统对变化的可能反应，以支持其提供的利益的管理和保护。这需要国际上的努力，将具有生态系统、气候和生物地球化学（即营养物质和其他化学物质如何在海洋、大气和生物中移动）专业知识的科学家聚集在一起。关于个别地区的知识必须综合起来，以解释在整个海洋的“环极”尺度上运作的过程。BAS的科学家在发展“南大洋综合气候与生态系统动力学”（ICED）项目中发挥了重要作用，该项目已经开始协调和集中这方面的专业知识。我们正在寻求资金，以利用目前的进展并领导ice的实施阶段，主要有两个目标：(1)领导、协调和支持ice科学计划和实施战略中确定的关键ice社区活动；(2)为预测南大洋生态系统对可能的环境变化情景的可能反应发展科学基础，从而产生高影响产出，为全球评估提供依据。实现第一个目标将涉及：不同科学分支和国家方案之间的协调和沟通；协调科学活动；扩大研究人员网络；寻求融资机会；方案支助和与综合海洋生物地球化学和生态系统研究（综合海洋生物地球化学和生态系统研究）国际方案办公室联络，国际环境规划署是该全球方案的一部分；与其他主要国际机构发展更密切的协调。针对第二个目标的活动将围绕两个科学讲习班展开。第一个项目将主要由国际合作伙伴代表ice进行协调和资助。它将评估关于环境变化和生物反应的知识状况，并对气候变化的生物反应作出初步预测。第二次研讨会，我们正在申请部分资金，将评估正在进行的预测食物网结构如何应对变化的结果，并对未来食物网可能发生的变化做出预测。这些研讨会应产生高影响力的学术成果。连同国际极地年的相关活动，它们将有助于确保政府间气候变化专门委员会在国际极地年的政策产出和发展可持续渔业管理方面适当考虑到南大洋生态系统对变化的反应。我们正处于国际贸易发展的关键时期，需要保持势头。所要求的资金将使非洲经委会能够在执行国际环境规划署方案和协调国际捐助方面发挥带头作用。这里概述的活动将加强和促进必要的国际合作，以充分应对整合南大洋生态系统、气候和生物地球化学研究的重大挑战。这将确保在综合了解南大洋的结构和功能、它对变化的反应以及它对整个地球和人类的重要性方面取得进展。

The Southern Ocean has a unique and iconic ecosystem. It includes vast reserves of krill which could potentially replace dwindling fish catches elsewhere. It helps stabilise the global climate by absorbing greenhouse gases and it supplies some of the key nutrients which sustain life in other oceans. These functions emphasize the crucial role of the Southern Ocean ecosystem in the workings of the Earth as a whole. There is strong evidence that risk posed by climate change is more severe and imminent for the Southern Ocean ecosystem than almost any other marine ecosystem. This threatens the ecosystem's ability to deliver the benefits described above. Assessment of the Southern Ocean ecosystem's likely responses to change is required to support the management and protection of the benefits it provides. This requires an international effort to bring together scientists with expertise on ecosystems, climate and biogeochemistry (i.e. how nutrients and other chemicals move through the oceans, atmosphere and living things). Knowledge about individual regions must be integrated to explain processes operating at the "circumpolar" scale of the entire ocean. BAS scientists have played a major role in developing the Integrating Climate and Ecosystem Dynamics in the Southern Ocean (ICED) programme which has begun to coordinate and focus this expertise. We are requesting funding to capitalise on the current progress and lead the implementation phase of ICED, under two main objectives:(1) To lead, coordinate and support key ICED community activities identified in the ICED Science Plan and Implementation Strategy(2) To develop the scientific basis for projecting the likely response of Southern Ocean ecosystems to plausible scenarios of environmental change and so generate high impact outputs to feed into global assessments.Addressing the first objective will involve: coordination and communication between different science strands and national programmes; coordination of scientific activities; expanding the network of researchers; pursuing funding opportunities; programme support and liaison with the International Programme Office of IMBER (Integrating Marine Biogeochemical and Ecosystems Research), the global programme which ICED is a part of; and developing closer coordination with other key international bodies.Activities addressing the second objective will be based around two scientific workshops. The first will mainly be coordinated and funded through international partners on behalf of ICED. It will assess the state of knowledge on environmental change and biological responses, and produce initial projections of the biological response to climate change. The second workshop, for which we are requesting part funding, will evaluate the results of ongoing efforts to predict how the structure of food webs responds to change and produce projections of how food webs might change in future. These workshops should lead to high impact academic outputs. Together with associated activities within ICED they will help to ensure that the Southern Ocean ecosystem's response to change is given due consideration by the IPCC, in the policy outputs of the International Polar Year and in developing sustainable fisheries management. We are at a critical point in the development of ICED, where we need to maintain momentum. The requested funding will allow NERC to take a lead role in implementing the ICED programme and coordinating international contributions. The activities outlined here will strengthen and facilitate the international collaboration necessary to fully address the significant challenge of integrating Southern Ocean ecosystem, climate and biogeochemical research. This will ensure progress towards an integrated, understanding of the structure and function of the Southern Ocean, its response to change and its importance to the Earth as a whole and to mankind.