Large marine ecosystem
As a Large Marine Ecosystems (LME) relatively large coastal sea areas are designated in which the primary production of biomass is higher than in the open ocean. The areas are usually larger than 200,000 km², extend along the coasts of all continents and usually include at least the continental shelf . Ken Sherman coined the term LMEs in 1985 in order to create a basis for resource management and ongoing monitoring of larger marine ecological units.
The defining characteristics of the LMEs are the composition and productivity of phyto- and zooplankton . These factors in turn depend on the changing water exchange with the open ocean. Climatic fluctuations also affect primary production. LMEs are changed by human input of nutrients (fertilization, faeces, etc.) and fishing.
Designated LMEs
The US state NOAA has so far identified 64 LMEs:
- Eastern Bering Sea (East Bering Sea), LME 1
- Gulf of Alaska (Gulf of Alaska), LME 2
- California Current (California Current), LME 3
- Gulf of California , LME 4
- Gulf of Mexico , LME 5
- Southeast US Continental Shelf, LME 6
- Northeast US Continental Shelf, LME 7
- Scotian Shelf, LME 8
- Newfoundland-Labrador Shelf, LME 9
- Insular Pacific-Hawaiian, LME 10
- Pacific Central-American Coastal, LME 11
- Caribbean Sea , LME 12
- Humboldt Current (Humboldt Current), LME 13
- Patagonian Shelf, LME 14
- South Brazil Shelf, LME 15
- East Brazil Shelf, LME 16
- North Brazil Shelf, LME 17
- West Greenland Shelf, LME 18
- Iceland Shelf, LME 19
- Barents (Barents Sea), LME 20
- Norwegian Sea (Norwegian Sea), LME 21
- North Sea, LME 22
- Baltic Sea, LME 23
- Celtic-Biscay Shelf, LME 24
- Iberian Coastal, LME 25
- Mediterranean Sea, LME 26
- Canary current (Canary Current), LME 27
- Guinea Current (Guinea Current), LME 28
- Benguela Current, LME 29
- Agulhas Current, LME 30
- Somali Coastal Current, LME 31
- Arabian Sea (Arabian Sea), LME 32
- Red Sea , LME 33
- Bay of Bengal (Bay of Bengal), LME 34
- Gulf of Thailand , LME 35
- South China Sea (South China Sea), LME 36
- Sulu- and Celebessee (Sulu Celebes Sea), LME 37
- Indonesian Sea, LME 38
- North Australian Shelf, LME 39
- Northeast Australian Shelf, LME 40
- East-Central Australian Shelf, LME 41
- Southeast Australian Shelf, LME 42
- Southwest Australian Shelf, LME 43
- West-Central Australian Shelf, LME 44
- Northwest Australian Shelf, LME 45
- New Zealand Shelf, LME 46
- East China Sea (East China Sea), LME 47
- Yellow Sea (Yello Sea), LME 48
- Kuroshio (Kuroshio Current), LME 49
- Sea of Japan / East Sea, LME 50
- Oyashio Current, LME 51
- Okhotsk Sea (Sea of Okhotsk), LME 52
- Western Bering Sea (West Sea Bearing), LME 53
- Chukchi (Chukchi Sea), LME 54
- Beaufort Sea (Beaufort Sea), LME 55
- East Siberian Sea (East Siberian Sea), LME 56
- Laptev (Laptev Sea), LME 57
- Kara (Kara Sea), LME 58
- East Greenland Shelf, LME 59
- Faroe Plateau, LME 60
- Antarctic, LME 61
- Black Sea , LME 62
- Hudson Bay , LME 63
- Arctic Ocean , LME 64
Publications
- G. Hempel and K. Sherman: Large Marine Ecosystems of the World: Trends in Exploitation, Protection, and Research .
Individual evidence
- ↑ LME: Introduction to the LME Portal: The Large Marine Ecosystem Approach to the Assessment and Management of Coastal Ocean Waters. Retrieved February 9, 2016 .
- ^ Gotthilf Hempel: Large Marine Ecosystems - A practical concept . In: Gotthilf Hempel, Irmtraud Hempel, Sigrid Schiel (eds.): Fascination Marine Research. An ecological reader. House sign, Bremen 2006
- ↑ LME: Introduction to the LME Portal: The Large Marine Ecosystem Approach to the Assessment and Management of Coastal Ocean Waters. Retrieved February 9, 2016 .