An Antarctic ecosystem value index to quantify ecological value across trophic levels and over time
Alice K. DuVivier · Kristen M. Krumhardt · Laura L. Landrum · Zephyr Sylvester · Bilgecan Şen · Sara Labrousse · Christian Che-Castaldo · Alice Eparvier · Marika M. Holland · Michelle A. LaRue · Cara Nissen · Michael N. Levy · Stephanie Jenouvrier · Cassandra Brooks
期刊Nature Communications / Nat Commun
类型Article
发表2026-02-11 (online)
卷期页17(1): 3203
收录2026-10-04
被浏览…
关键词trophic levelsfood webspolynyassea ice declinepenguinsmarine protected areasSouthern Oceanhabitat suitability projectionsEast AntarcticaAmundsen Sea
标签—
南极洲周围的南大洋是地球上变化最快的区域之一,也是渔业资源的新兴前沿地带。本文介绍了一种南极生态系统价值指数,该指数整合了从浮游植物到鱼类和企鹅等各个食物网营养级的生态系统信息,旨在量化南极大陆周围海域的生态价值。我们发现,沿岸冰间湖(海冰减少的区域)的指数值比周边区域高出31%至72%,这表明这些区域是许多依赖冰的南极物种的重要生物热点。利用地球系统模型的输出结果,我们对该指数的未来变化进行了预测,发现高价值区域(通常位于冰间湖内)在21世纪很可能继续保持其价值,尽管环境会发生变化。南极生态系统价值指数表明,随着企鹅栖息地变得越来越不适宜,它们的重要性也会降低,因此保护高价值栖息地对这些物种至关重要。该研究还表明,虽然许多高价值指数区域位于现有或拟议的海洋保护区内,但仍有几个机会采取额外的保护措施,尤其是在南极洲东部和阿蒙森海。
The Southern Ocean around Antarctica is one of the fastest changing regions on the planet and an emerging resource frontier for fisheries. Here, we present the Antarctic Ecosystem Value Index created by merging ecosystem information across food web trophic levels, from phytoplankton to fish and penguins, to quantify the ecological value of marine areas around the Antarctic continent. We find that coastal polynyas - areas of reduced sea-ice - have Index values 31–72% higher than surrounding areas, suggesting that these areas are biologically valuable hot spots for a number of ice-dependent Antarctic Species. Using output from an Earth system model to generate future projections of the Index, we find that high-value locations, often within polynyas, are likely to continue to be valuable throughout the 21st century despite environmental changes. The Antarctic Ecosystem Value Index indicates that penguins lose importance as their habitat becomes increasingly unsuitable, so protecting high-value habitat areas may be critical for these species. This study also shows that while many high-value Index areas are within existing or proposed Marine Protected Areas, there are several opportunities for adopting additional protection, particularly in East Antarctica and the Amundsen Sea.

@article{duvivier2026,
author = {Alice K. DuVivier and Kristen M. Krumhardt and Laura L. Landrum and Zephyr Sylvester and Bilgecan Şen and Sara Labrousse and Christian Che-Castaldo and Alice Eparvier and Marika M. Holland and Michelle A. LaRue and Cara Nissen and Michael N. Levy and Stephanie Jenouvrier and Cassandra Brooks},
title = {An Antarctic ecosystem value index to quantify ecological value across trophic levels and over time},
journal = {Nature Communications},
year = {2026},
volume = {17},
number = {1},
pages = {3203},
doi = {10.1038/s41467-026-69011-0},
publisher = {Springer Science and Business Media LLC},
}· END ·