Large Marine Ecosystem: Goods, Services, Threats and Conservation

Running head: LARGE MARINE ECOSYSTEM
LARGE MARINE ECOSYSTEM
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1LARGE MARINE ECOSYSYTEM
Table of Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................2
LMEs in Antarctic...........................................................................................................................3
Goods and Services from the Coastal Ecosystem............................................................................4
Threats to these goods and services by the human activities...........................................................5
LME Approach................................................................................................................................8
Conclusion.......................................................................................................................................8
References......................................................................................................................................10

2LARGE MARINE ECOSYSYTEM
Introduction
The ocean is a vast expanse of water body inhabiting unique marine ecosystems
comprising of river basins, mangroves, coral reefs, sand banks, estuaries and continental shelves
(Liquete et al., 2013). Large marine ecosystem consist of an area extending 200,000 sq. km. or
more adjacent to landmass of continents characterized by predominant by higher primary
productivity than the other open areas of ocean. Large Marine Ecosystems originated as a potent
tool to enable sustainable management and development of marine resources through a
collaborative effort. LMEs serve over 80% of the major catches of fishes but extremely
vulnerable to massive ocean pollution which enriches the water with nutrients thereby degrading
the habitat of the ocean (Hofmann et al., 2014). Various other oceanic activities comprising of
overfishing, increasing water temperature, global warming, and climate change hamper the
economic prosperity derived from these limited marine resources. It also has an aggravating
effect on the biodiversity like the thriving coral reefs, mangroves and sea grasses which helps in
preserving the quality of the water (Mann & Lazier, 2013). Over-exploitation of these resources
arising from unsustainable management can lead a $12.6trillion worth of resources at extreme
risk.
Antarctic LME is the area confined between 48 degree and 60 degree south latitudes
experiencing an extreme cold climate covering an area of 4.3 million square km which holds
70% of the fresh water. A wide variety of species including krill, toothfish, icefish, ballen
whales, and Antarctic cod fish comprising the major biodiversity of the Antarctic Convergence
also called as Antarctic Polar front (Christner et al.,2014). The upwelling of the cold water
currents releases vast quantities of nutrients promoting growth of the planktons which forms the
base of the marine ecosystem. Many species of seals, birds, squid and benthic organisms are

3LARGE MARINE ECOSYSYTEM
found which has attracted immense commercial interest for pirate fishing resulting to doubling of
illegal trade in Patagonian tooth fish. This has indirectly killing the albatross and other sea birds.
These species have sophisticated mechanism to survive in extreme cold conditions. The
metabolic rates of these organisms are low which enables greater protein synthesis. Antarctic
krill form the forage species in the food chain which are generally very short and limited. Due to
increasing overexploitation of krill it is necessary to conserve them in order to maintain the
sustainability of the LMEs (Boonstra & Österblom, 2014).
LMEs in Antarctic
Antarctic experiences strong winds due to coastal slopes and is also known as one of the
windiest continent of the world. The wind speeds ranges over 327 km/h while the lowest
temperature recorded in Antarctic is -89.2 degrees with massive ice shelves measuring double
the size of Australia. The atmosphere is also one of the driest on earth resulting in very limited
biodiversity which has acclimatized to such an harsh climatic ecosystem. With an ice coverage
of upto 4 km thick the landmass have only few plants such as mosses and lichens. The well
developed marine food web form the large part of the LME of Antarctic where the
phytoplankton are the major primary producers providing food for the other organisms of the
trophic levels. From minute zooplanktons, krill to huge blue whales plays a vital role in
sustaining the ecosystem (Ainley & Pauly, 2014).
During harsh winter conditions, the phytoplankton are unavailable hence the krill sustain
life on feeing the ice algae. Krill is one of the important zooplankton which 5 cm in length are
the source of food to many mammals, fishes and birds of Antarctic. It is one most available
biomass in anatarctic whose population is estimated to be greater than the human population of
the world. Krill forms one the keystone species of the Antarctic marine food web because of the