Starting with the Basics: What Is An Ecosystem?
- An ecosystem is a community of living organisms (plants, animals, and microbes) in conjunction with the nonliving components of their environment (things like air, water and mineral soil).
SOURCE: Tansley (1934); Molles (1999), p. 482; Chapinet al. (2002), p. 380; Schulze et al. (2005); p. 400; Gurevitch et al. (2006), p. 522; Smith & Smith 2012, p. G-5
SOURCE: http://tx.english-ch.com/teacher/owen/ecosystem1.jpg
So...what's a "Large Marine Ecosystem"?
- The system of LMEs has been developed by the
US National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) to identify areas of the oceans for
conservation purposes.
- Large marine ecosystems (LMEs) are regions of the world's oceans, encompassing coastal areas from river basins and estuaries to the seaward boundaries of continental shelves and the outer margins of the major ocean current systems.
- They are
relatively large regions on the order of 200,000 km² or greater, characterized
by distinct bathymetry, hydrography, productivity, and trophically dependent
populations.
- LME-based
conservation is based on recognition that the world’s coastal ocean waters are
degraded by unsustainable fishing practices, habitat degradation, eutrophication,
toxic pollution, aerosol contamination, and emerging diseases, and that
positive actions to mitigate these threats require coordinated actions by
governments and civil society to recover depleted fish populations, restore
degraded habitats and reduce coastal pollution.
- Although the LMEs cover only the continental
margins and not the deep oceans and oceanic islands, the 64 LMEs produce 95% of
the world's annual marine fishery biomass
yields. Most of the global ocean
pollution, overexploitation, and coastal habitat alteration
occur within their waters.
SOURCE: NOAA.ORG
Large Marine Ecosystem (LMEs) around the World
SOURCE: http://www.publicaffairs.noaa.gov/worldsummit/images/lme.jpg
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