Match-mismatching of trophic levels as a structuring force of ecosystems

We intend to study ecosystem functioning using the match-mismatch hypothesis as a framework and threedifferent marine ecosystems with focus on seabirds as examples. The marine ecosystems chosen - the SouthernOcean, the Barents Sea and the Benguela Upwelling - are highly sensitive to climate variability, and the two latterare important fishing areas and thereby also subject to anthropogenic constraints. The present proposal involvesseveral collaborative national and international projects. Our main goal is to investigate the vulnerability of marinesystems to environmental changes, using seabirds, which are among these ecosystems' main top consumers,as indicators. The main tool will be statistical modelling of French, South-African and Russian seabird data, usingthe ecological, oceanographic and statistical modelling expertise assembled. Our project is also particularly timelydue to the major role of these oceans in carbon cycling and the global climate, and because their ecosystems areamong those with the largest production of fish biomass and seabird biodiversity on our planet.