Continental slopes – steep regions between the shelf break and abyssal ocean – play key roles in the climatology and ecology of the Arctic Ocean. Here, through review and synthesis, we find that the narrow slope regions contribute to ecosystem functioning disproportionately to the size of the habitat area (∼6% of total Arctic Ocean area). Driven by inflows of sub-Arctic waters and steered by topography, ...

Larval stages are among those most vulnerable to ocean acidification (OA). Projected atmospheric CO2 levels for the end of this century may lead to negative impacts on communities dominated by calcifying taxa with planktonic life stages. We exposed Mediterranean mussel (Mytilus galloprovincialis) sperm and early life stages to pHT levels of 8.0 (current pH) and 7.6 (2100 level) by manipulating pCO2 ...

Kelps are ecosystem engineers and thus enhance biodiversity and subsidize food webs in nearshore areas. Numerous studies describing diversity and abundance of biota associated with kelp have focused on sub-tropical and temperate waters while kelp forests at high latitudes, where kelp is predicted to expand in distribution, remain mostly unexplored. Kelp forests contribute significantly to regional ...