Questioning the Rise of Gelatinous Zooplankton in the World's Oceans

Condon Robert H.

Graham William M.

Duarte Carlos M.

Pitt Kylie A.

Lucas Cathy H.

Haddock Steven H. D.

Sutherland Kelly R.

Robinson Kelly L.

Dawson Michael N

Decker Mary Beth

Mills Claudia E.

Purcell Jennifer E.

Malej Alenka

Mianzan Hermes

Uye Shin-ichi

Gelcich Stefan

Madin Laurence P.

BioScience

During the past several decades, high numbers of gelatinous zooplankton species have been reported in many estuarine and coastal ecosystems. Coupled with media-driven public perception, a paradigm has evolved in which the global ocean ecosystems are thought to be heading toward being dominated by “nuisance" jellyfish. We question this current paradigm by presenting a broad overview of gelatinous zooplankton in a historical context to develop the hypothesis that population changes reflect the human-mediated alteration of global ocean ecosystems. To this end, we synthesize information related to the evolutionary context of contemporary gelatinous zooplankton blooms, the human frame of reference for changes in gelatinous zooplankton populations, and whether sufficient data are available to have established the paradigm. We conclude that the current paradigm in which it is believed that there has been a global increase in gelatinous zooplankton is unsubstantiated, and we develop a strategy for addressing the critical questions about long-term, human-related changes in the sea as they relate to gelatinous zooplankton blooms.

bloom

media

jellyfish

salp

global synthesis

Zoology [ 480 ]

eng

American Institute of Biological Sciences

(c) 2012 by American Institute of Biological Sciences.

[ISSN] 0006-3568

[DOI] 10.1525/bio.2012.62.2.9

[NCID] AA00566244

[DOI] http://dx.doi.org/10.1525/bio.2012.62.2.9