SCOR WG149 Handbook to support the SCOR Best Practice Guide for Multiple Drivers Marine Research.

Abstract

Marine species and ecosystems are exposed to a wide range of environmental change – both detrimental (threats) and beneficial – due to human activities. Some of the changes are global, whereas others are regional or local. It is important to distinguish the scale of each threat as the solutions will differ. For example, the mitigation of a global problem requires a global response, which is more difficult to achieve than addressing a local problem with a local response. These wide-ranging changes are often referred to drivers or stressors. The term multiple drivers refers to the concurrent alteration of multiple environmental properties, that are each biologically-influential, by anthropogenic pressures including climate change. These multiple environmental properties are commonly referred to as drivers or stressors, and include temperature, carbon dioxide, pH, oxygen, salinity, density, irradiance and nutrients, eutrophication, UV exposure, and point source pollutants (Figure 1). The multiple drivers framework represents a complex matrix of changing ocean properties, that will vary from locale to locale, and may also alter with season.