The impact of whaling on the ocean carbon cycle: why bigger was better.

<h4>Background</h4>Humans have reduced the abundance of many large marine vertebrates, including whales, large fish, and sharks, to only a small percentage of their pre-exploitation levels. Industrial fishing and whaling also tended to preferentially harvest the largest species and large...

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Autores principales:	Andrew J Pershing, Line B Christensen, Nicholas R Record, Graham D Sherwood, Peter B Stetson
Formato:	article
Lenguaje:	EN
Publicado:	Public Library of Science (PLoS) 2010
Materias:	Medicine R Science Q
Acceso en línea:	https://doaj.org/article/55b52e4300a94e4fbfbb927837b73bf6
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spelling	oai:doaj.org-article:55b52e4300a94e4fbfbb927837b73bf62021-11-18T06:35:39ZThe impact of whaling on the ocean carbon cycle: why bigger was better.1932-620310.1371/journal.pone.0012444https://doaj.org/article/55b52e4300a94e4fbfbb927837b73bf62010-08-01T00:00:00Zhttps://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/pmid/20865156/?tool=EBIhttps://doaj.org/toc/1932-6203<h4>Background</h4>Humans have reduced the abundance of many large marine vertebrates, including whales, large fish, and sharks, to only a small percentage of their pre-exploitation levels. Industrial fishing and whaling also tended to preferentially harvest the largest species and largest individuals within a population. We consider the consequences of removing these animals on the ocean's ability to store carbon.<h4>Methodology/principal findings</h4>Because body size is critical to our arguments, our analysis focuses on populations of baleen whales. Using reconstructions of pre-whaling and modern abundances, we consider the impact of whaling on the amount of carbon stored in living whales and on the amount of carbon exported to the deep sea by sinking whale carcasses. Populations of large baleen whales now store 9.1×10(6) tons less carbon than before whaling. Some of the lost storage has been offset by increases in smaller competitors; however, due to the relative metabolic efficiency of larger organisms, a shift toward smaller animals could decrease the total community biomass by 30% or more. Because of their large size and few predators, whales and other large marine vertebrates can efficiently export carbon from the surface waters to the deep sea. We estimate that rebuilding whale populations would remove 1.6×10(5) tons of carbon each year through sinking whale carcasses.<h4>Conclusions/significance</h4>Even though fish and whales are only a small portion of the ocean's overall biomass, fishing and whaling have altered the ocean's ability to store and sequester carbon. Although these changes are small relative to the total ocean carbon sink, rebuilding populations of fish and whales would be comparable to other carbon management schemes, including ocean iron fertilization.Andrew J PershingLine B ChristensenNicholas R RecordGraham D SherwoodPeter B StetsonPublic Library of Science (PLoS)articleMedicineRScienceQENPLoS ONE, Vol 5, Iss 8, p e12444 (2010)
institution	DOAJ
collection	DOAJ
language	EN
topic	Medicine R Science Q
spellingShingle	Medicine R Science Q Andrew J Pershing Line B Christensen Nicholas R Record Graham D Sherwood Peter B Stetson The impact of whaling on the ocean carbon cycle: why bigger was better.
description	<h4>Background</h4>Humans have reduced the abundance of many large marine vertebrates, including whales, large fish, and sharks, to only a small percentage of their pre-exploitation levels. Industrial fishing and whaling also tended to preferentially harvest the largest species and largest individuals within a population. We consider the consequences of removing these animals on the ocean's ability to store carbon.<h4>Methodology/principal findings</h4>Because body size is critical to our arguments, our analysis focuses on populations of baleen whales. Using reconstructions of pre-whaling and modern abundances, we consider the impact of whaling on the amount of carbon stored in living whales and on the amount of carbon exported to the deep sea by sinking whale carcasses. Populations of large baleen whales now store 9.1×10(6) tons less carbon than before whaling. Some of the lost storage has been offset by increases in smaller competitors; however, due to the relative metabolic efficiency of larger organisms, a shift toward smaller animals could decrease the total community biomass by 30% or more. Because of their large size and few predators, whales and other large marine vertebrates can efficiently export carbon from the surface waters to the deep sea. We estimate that rebuilding whale populations would remove 1.6×10(5) tons of carbon each year through sinking whale carcasses.<h4>Conclusions/significance</h4>Even though fish and whales are only a small portion of the ocean's overall biomass, fishing and whaling have altered the ocean's ability to store and sequester carbon. Although these changes are small relative to the total ocean carbon sink, rebuilding populations of fish and whales would be comparable to other carbon management schemes, including ocean iron fertilization.
format	article
author	Andrew J Pershing Line B Christensen Nicholas R Record Graham D Sherwood Peter B Stetson
author_facet	Andrew J Pershing Line B Christensen Nicholas R Record Graham D Sherwood Peter B Stetson
author_sort	Andrew J Pershing
title	The impact of whaling on the ocean carbon cycle: why bigger was better.
title_short	The impact of whaling on the ocean carbon cycle: why bigger was better.
title_full	The impact of whaling on the ocean carbon cycle: why bigger was better.
title_fullStr	The impact of whaling on the ocean carbon cycle: why bigger was better.
title_full_unstemmed	The impact of whaling on the ocean carbon cycle: why bigger was better.
title_sort	impact of whaling on the ocean carbon cycle: why bigger was better.
publisher	Public Library of Science (PLoS)
publishDate	2010
url	https://doaj.org/article/55b52e4300a94e4fbfbb927837b73bf6
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The impact of whaling on the ocean carbon cycle: why bigger was better.

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