Pyramids of Life: Working with nature for a sustainable future
Lead Research Organisation:
Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science
Department Name: CEFAS Lowestoft Laboratory
Abstract
Our planet's natural resources face unsustainable demands and there is evidence that current management approaches are failing to move resource use towards a sustainable future. This failure is particularly acute in marine ecosystems where about 95% of fisheries are fully- or over-exploited. A step-change is needed to achieve sustainability, but such change can only be affected if it aligns with consumer demand, real world fishing practicalities, and with sustainable national policies such as the Natural Capital Approach described by the UK's 25 Year Environment Plan. The 'Pyramids of Life' approach to a sustainable future captures and helps to communicate complex relationships between different species, human behaviours, and marine ecosystem functions.
Ecological pyramids represent different size-based trophic levels with the relative scarcity of larger organisms being regulated by well-understood scaling principles based on energy flow from smaller prey. Human needs can also be represented in hierarchical pyramids where lower level physiological needs (e.g. need for food) must be satisfied before higher level needs (e.g. need for self-esteem) can influence behaviour (e.g. value systems). If presented together, information from such pyramids would allow stakeholders to understand complex and dynamic systems and their interdependencies, contribute to inform adaptive decision-making and lend itself to efficient and scalable modelling tools based on existing datasets
The problem for the UK's marine resources is that fisheries management agreements typically use metrics which are based, for a given species, on the number of tonnes landed above some given minimum size. This can distort the size structure of naturally productive pyramids, causing local crashes in populations. It can also be wasteful where catches inevitably encompass many species. Consumer preference and market forces also play a role, promoting "plate-sized" catches and well-known species at the possible expense of more ecologically sustainable alternatives.
We have shown that management which better respects ecological pyramids, and where harvest at a particular size class is proportional to the production at that size class (in units of carbon per year), can be both more productive and surprisingly resilient to external challenges. The challenge is to convert this academic observation into practical reality. To do this, we need to understand the behaviour of consumers, and of fishers, and to identify where change can be commercially viable as well as ecologically sustainable. Again the pyramid concept, this time describing values and behaviours, is helpful. Co-development with our partner organisations has identified key target species and fisheries, and existing datasets, where targeted changes in management can align with both the realities of human behaviour and economic value, and ecological sustainability.
The research combines overlapping expertise in socio-economics and human behaviour (University of East Anglia), ecology and detailed spatio-temporal datasets (Cefas),and mathematics and marine ecology (University of York). Our partners Seafish and Waitrose bring detailed expertise in market dynamics, consumer behaviour and fishing effort, as well as matching our commitment to long-term sustainability. Together, this body of work will provide a multidimensional perspective of the value of marine ecosystems so that future management interventions are based squarely on what is sustainable.
Ecological pyramids represent different size-based trophic levels with the relative scarcity of larger organisms being regulated by well-understood scaling principles based on energy flow from smaller prey. Human needs can also be represented in hierarchical pyramids where lower level physiological needs (e.g. need for food) must be satisfied before higher level needs (e.g. need for self-esteem) can influence behaviour (e.g. value systems). If presented together, information from such pyramids would allow stakeholders to understand complex and dynamic systems and their interdependencies, contribute to inform adaptive decision-making and lend itself to efficient and scalable modelling tools based on existing datasets
The problem for the UK's marine resources is that fisheries management agreements typically use metrics which are based, for a given species, on the number of tonnes landed above some given minimum size. This can distort the size structure of naturally productive pyramids, causing local crashes in populations. It can also be wasteful where catches inevitably encompass many species. Consumer preference and market forces also play a role, promoting "plate-sized" catches and well-known species at the possible expense of more ecologically sustainable alternatives.
We have shown that management which better respects ecological pyramids, and where harvest at a particular size class is proportional to the production at that size class (in units of carbon per year), can be both more productive and surprisingly resilient to external challenges. The challenge is to convert this academic observation into practical reality. To do this, we need to understand the behaviour of consumers, and of fishers, and to identify where change can be commercially viable as well as ecologically sustainable. Again the pyramid concept, this time describing values and behaviours, is helpful. Co-development with our partner organisations has identified key target species and fisheries, and existing datasets, where targeted changes in management can align with both the realities of human behaviour and economic value, and ecological sustainability.
The research combines overlapping expertise in socio-economics and human behaviour (University of East Anglia), ecology and detailed spatio-temporal datasets (Cefas),and mathematics and marine ecology (University of York). Our partners Seafish and Waitrose bring detailed expertise in market dynamics, consumer behaviour and fishing effort, as well as matching our commitment to long-term sustainability. Together, this body of work will provide a multidimensional perspective of the value of marine ecosystems so that future management interventions are based squarely on what is sustainable.
Organisations
- Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science (Lead Research Organisation)
- Norwegian Institute for Nature Research (Collaboration)
- Instituto Español de Estudios Estratégicos (Collaboration)
- Carl von Ossietzky University of Oldenburg (Collaboration)
- University of Plymouth (Collaboration)
- Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (Collaboration)
- National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (Collaboration)
- Dutch Research Council (Collaboration)
- French Research Institute for the Exploitation of the Sea (Collaboration)
Publications
Holland MM
(2024)
Predictors of long-term variability in NE Atlantic plankton communities.
in The Science of the total environment
Thompson M
(2024)
Fish functional groups of the North Atlantic and Arctic Oceans
Thompson MSA
(2023)
Climate change affects the distribution of diversity across marine food webs.
in Global change biology
Thompson, M.S.A.
(2023)
OSPAR Quality Status Report 2023 - Pilot Assessment of Feeding Guilds
| Description | Climate change projections: Many studies predict shifts in species distributions and community size composition in response to climate change, yet few have demonstrated how these changes will be distributed across marine food webs. We use Bayesian Additive Regression Trees to model how climate change will affect the habitat suitability of marine fish species across a range of body sizes and belonging to different feeding guilds, each with different habitat and feeding requirements in the northeast Atlantic shelf seas. Contrasting effects of climate change are predicted for feeding guilds, with spatially extensive decreases in the species richness of consumers lower in the food web (planktivores) but increases for those higher up (piscivores). Changing spatial patterns in predator-prey mass ratios and fish species size composition are also predicted for feeding guilds and across the fish assemblage. In combination, these changes could influence nutrient uptake and transformation, transfer efficiency and food web stability, and thus profoundly alter ecosystem structure and functioning. Food web indicator development: Food web indicators can reveal how ecosystems are responding to environmental change and anthropogenic pressure in a way that cannot be inferred from studying habitat, species or assemblages alone. Systematic differences in response of typically smaller bodied organisms, feeding lower in the food web (planktivores) relative to those with bigger bodies that utilise different resources (benthivores, pisco-crustivores) and feed higher up the food web (piscivores), could profoundly alter the uptake of nutrients and the efficiency of communities in converting resources into biomass (i.e. ecosystem functioning which supports the provision of ecosystem services). Our Pilot Feeding Guild assessment for the OSPAR Quality Status Report 2023 shows that fish populations and their diversity are changing at different rates and even in different directions across the food web across OSPAR Regions. For instance, in the Bay of Biscay and Celtic Sea there were extensive temporal decreases in the biomass of consumers lower in the food web (planktivores) which contrasted with increases in those higher up (pisco-crustivores and piscivores). This demonstrates that the dominant energy pathways upon which species rely are already altering. Such changes could impact nutrient uptake and transfer efficiency across the food web, on feeding conditions for commercial fish species, higher predators (birds and mammals) and alter the extent of natural pressure on fish prey (e.g. plankton, benthos). |
| Exploitation Route | Our feeding guild indicator is being incorporated into the UK Marine Strategy 25 Year Plan Outcome Indicator Framework and further developed for future OSPAR assessments with the aim of making it a candidate food web indicator. Our predictions of change in marine food webs in response to climate change will help inform conservation strategies, such as identify which Highly Protected Marine Areas are most susceptible to change and where other conservation designations may be most effective into the future. |
| Sectors | Agriculture Food and Drink Environment |
| URL | https://oap.ospar.org/en/ospar-assessments/quality-status-reports/qsr-2023/indicator-assessments/feeding-guild-pilot-assessment/ |
| Description | Our Pilot Assessment of Feeding Guilds contributed to the OSPAR Quality Status Report 2023: Thompson, M.S.A., Lynam, C.P. and Preciado, I. 2022. Pilot Assessment of Feeding Guilds. In: OSPAR, 2023: The 2023 Quality Status Report for the Northeast Atlantic. OSPAR Commission, London. Available at: https://oap.ospar.org/en/ospar-assessments/quality-status-reports/qsr-2023/indicatorassessments/feeding-guild-pilot-assessmen |
| First Year Of Impact | 2023 |
| Sector | Environment |
| Description | Develop an indicator for marine food web status assessment |
| Geographic Reach | Multiple continents/international |
| Policy Influence Type | Citation in other policy documents |
| Impact | We provided an indicator capable of revealing change in ecosystem structure and function across the OSPAR Area based on routinely collected survey data.This revealed significant and spatially extensive temporal changes across the food web, with decreases in the biomass of smaller planktivorous fish which contrasted with increases in the biomass of larger more piscivorous fish. The information we have generated can be tailored to fulfil other specific evidence needs, such as improving the parametrisation of ecosystem models and quantifying sustainable levels of human pressure. Our study provides evidence supporting a candidate food web indicator for the OSPAR Area to direct efforts to help nature recovery. |
| Description | Biodiversity patterns under a shifting baseline: important areas for sensitive fish species and ecosystem functioning to assist marine spatial planning |
| Amount | £45,847 (GBP) |
| Organisation | Department For Environment, Food And Rural Affairs (DEFRA) |
| Sector | Public |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 03/2023 |
| End | 03/2024 |
| Description | Putting it together: linking changes in plankton and fisheries |
| Amount | £109,535 (GBP) |
| Organisation | Department For Environment, Food And Rural Affairs (DEFRA) |
| Sector | Public |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 03/2023 |
| End | 03/2024 |
| Description | Using big data to understand change in the food webs of Highly Protected Marine Areas |
| Amount | £70,000 (GBP) |
| Organisation | Department For Environment, Food And Rural Affairs (DEFRA) |
| Sector | Public |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 03/2024 |
| End | 03/2025 |
| Title | Modelled and observed fish feeding traits for the North Atlantic and Arctic Oceans (1836-2020) and population estimates of fish with different feeding traits from Northeast Atlantic scientific trawl surveys (1997-2020) |
| Description | The data we provide here have been assembled to categorise fish into feeding guilds and determine change in populations of fish with different feeding traits relevant to food web status assessment advocated by OSPAR. |
| Type Of Material | Database/Collection of data |
| Year Produced | 2024 |
| Provided To Others? | Yes |
| Impact | Our work has been adopted at an international level by OSPAR (The Convention for the Protection of the Marine Environment of the North-East Atlantic) and nationally the UK Marine Strategy Outcome Indicator Framework as a pilot of marine food web status assessment. Publicly accessible data is a prerequisite for such indicators of to be adopted in international and national policy processes. |
| URL | https://doi.org/10.14466/CefasDataHub.149 |
| Title | Modelled projections of habitat for fish species feeding guilds around North-western Europe under climate change, 2010 to 2095 |
| Description | These data are Bayesian Additive Regression Tree model annual predictions for habitat suitability of marine fish species across a range of body sizes and belonging to different feeding guilds from 2010 to 2095 in 5 year intervals in the northeast Atlantic shelf seas. Feeding guilds were allocated based on classifications following Thompson et al. (2020). The purpose of this study was to predict how climate change could affect the species richness of consumers lower in the food web (planktivores), compared to those intermediate (benthivores) and higher up (piscivores). In brief, a collation of trophic interactions spanning the northeast Atlantic shelf seas has been applied to define feeding guilds by grouping fish species size classes (we use the taxonomic level of Gobiidae and Ammodytes for taxa that are not consistently identified to species) that have prey taxa in common, and whose prey differentiate them from other predator guilds based on cluster analysis. Taxon-specific size categories were defined as: <3 cm as larvae; small juvenile fish between 3 cm and half of length at maturity; juvenile-medium fish from half of length at maturity to length at maturity; medium fish from length at maturity to half-maximum length; and all remaining larger fish as large. Taxon-specific length at maturity and maximum length (i.e., asymptotic length at infinity) were estimated using the R package Fishlife (Thorson et al., 2017). Environmental projections were derived from the coupled marine ecosystem models POLCOMS/NEMO-ERSEM. We focus on two emission scenarios (representative concentration pathways, RCPs) developed for the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)'s fifth phase of the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project (CMIP5): RCP4.5, the "stabilization scenario", characterised by medium emissions and high mitigations, and the "no mitigation policy" scenario RCP8.5, derived from high fossil fuel emission and low mitigations. We use projections of temperature, salinity, pH, nitrate, phosphate, dissolved oxygen, current velocity, chlorophyll, gross primary production, non-living organic carbon, zooplankton carbon concentration and secondary carbon production by zooplankton in our predictive habitat models. For temperature, salinity, current velocity, dissolved oxygen, and pH both surface and bottom mean annual averages were considered, and in the case of temperature, also the difference between bottom and surface values, to account for stratification. For chlorophyll, gross primary production, non-living organic carbon, phosphate, nitrate, zooplankton carbon concentration and secondary carbon production by zooplankton the total across the water column was used, rather than surface or bottom values. We also include depth (from the General Bathymetric Chart of the Oceans GEBCO; www.gebco.net, at 15 second resolution), distance to coast and substrate composition (median grain size and percentages of mud, sand and gravel from Wilson et al., 2018) to capture key spatial gradients that affect habitat suitability for fish. All environmental data was processed onto a 10 km by 10 km grid, and because an annual mean of, e.g., temperature, does not capture the environmental variability that ultimately determines the thresholds within which biota must survive; for temperature, salinity, pH, oxygen and current speed we also include the standard deviation of the 12 monthly means in each year, for all locations within a radius of 75 km of each grid cell, in order to provide a measure of spatio-temporal heterogeneity. For the environmental variables where surface and bottom values were extracted, we use sea surface values to model habitat suitability for planktivores, which are largely pelagic species, and seabed values for the benthivores and piscivores which are largely demersal species. Pairwise Pearson correlation coefficients were computed for the set of environmental variables used to model the habitat of planktivores and of non-planktivores separately, to assess multicollinearity. Variables were removed if they correlated with another >0.7. Additionally we provide data on model performance and presence/absence thresholds, in the file "Model performance and threshold.xlsx". Model performance is measured via the area under the curve (AUC) of the Receiver Operating Characteristic (ROC) plot, the AUC of the Precision-Recall (PR) plot (He & Garcia, 2009), and the Miller slope (Miller et al., 1991). We assess model performance in both space and time. Spatial performance was analysed via 8-fold block cross validation using the R library "blockCV" (Valavi et al., 2019). Temporal performance of the models was assessed by training a new model that excluded the last 5 years of survey data (2015 to 2019), using the resulting model to predict to those 5 years, a "novel time period" for that model. These data were produced for the study in the article "Climate change affects the distribution of diversity across marine food webs", by Murray S. A. Thompson, Elena Couce, Michaela Schratzberger and Christopher P. Lynam, in Global Change Biology (in press). |
| Type Of Material | Database/Collection of data |
| Year Produced | 2023 |
| Provided To Others? | Yes |
| Impact | TBC |
| URL | https://www.cefas.co.uk/data-and-publications/dois/modelled-projections-of-habitat-for-fish-species-... |
| Title | Sustainable seafood consumption in SW choice experiment |
| Description | Choice experiment dataset collecting data from an online survey about seafood consumption in the SW England. A random sample from the general population in the SW England (N=1000) answered to an anonymised online survey questionnaire collecting information about seafood consumption habits, preferences and attitudes. The survey questionnaire was administered using the Qualtrics online platform and the respondent panel was provided by a professional survey company. The survey was administered between October and November 2023. |
| Type Of Material | Database/Collection of data |
| Year Produced | 2023 |
| Provided To Others? | No |
| Impact | The Pyramids of Life team at Cefas and the University of East Anglia uses the dataset for further analysis on sustainable seafood consumption in the UK including to inform the national survey. Preliminary results were presented at the enevcon 2024 conference session that Pyramids of Life co-organised. |
| Description | International Convention for Exploration of the Seas (ICES) Working Group on Biodiversity Science (WGBIODIV) |
| Organisation | Carl von Ossietzky University of Oldenburg |
| Department | Helmholtz Institute for Functional Marine Biodiversity |
| Country | Germany |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | I have been chairing WGBIODIV since 2021, developing a strong international collaborative network, leading and co-authoring papers and reports that provide evidence of marine biodiversity change |
| Collaborator Contribution | Colleagues representing governments and academic institutions from across the North Atlantic have authored papers and reports, shared data and most importantly helped develop consensus, e.g., within ICES and OSPAR, on how to assess marine biodiversity and sustainable levels of human pressure. |
| Impact | 'Predictors of long-term variability in NE Atlantic plankton communities' 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2024.175793; 'Fish functional groups of the North Atlantic and Arctic Oceans' 10.5194/essd-2024-102 (in press) 'Assessing sea floor functional biodiversity and vulnerability' 10.3354/meps14270 'Pilot Assessment of Feeding Guilds. In: OSPAR, 2023: The 2023 Quality Status Report for the Northeast Atlantic. OSPAR Commission, London' https://www.researchgate.net/publication/369031275_Pilot_Assessment_of_Feeding_Guilds_In_OSPAR_2023_The_2023_Quality_Status_Report_for_the_Northeast_Atlantic_OSPAR_Commission_London#fullTextFileContent ICES. 2025. Working Group on Biodiversity Science (WGBIODIV). ICES Scientific Reports (in press) |
| Start Year | 2021 |
| Description | International Convention for Exploration of the Seas (ICES) Working Group on Biodiversity Science (WGBIODIV) |
| Organisation | Dutch Research Council |
| Department | Royal Netherlands Institute for Sea Research |
| Country | Netherlands |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | I have been chairing WGBIODIV since 2021, developing a strong international collaborative network, leading and co-authoring papers and reports that provide evidence of marine biodiversity change |
| Collaborator Contribution | Colleagues representing governments and academic institutions from across the North Atlantic have authored papers and reports, shared data and most importantly helped develop consensus, e.g., within ICES and OSPAR, on how to assess marine biodiversity and sustainable levels of human pressure. |
| Impact | 'Predictors of long-term variability in NE Atlantic plankton communities' 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2024.175793; 'Fish functional groups of the North Atlantic and Arctic Oceans' 10.5194/essd-2024-102 (in press) 'Assessing sea floor functional biodiversity and vulnerability' 10.3354/meps14270 'Pilot Assessment of Feeding Guilds. In: OSPAR, 2023: The 2023 Quality Status Report for the Northeast Atlantic. OSPAR Commission, London' https://www.researchgate.net/publication/369031275_Pilot_Assessment_of_Feeding_Guilds_In_OSPAR_2023_The_2023_Quality_Status_Report_for_the_Northeast_Atlantic_OSPAR_Commission_London#fullTextFileContent ICES. 2025. Working Group on Biodiversity Science (WGBIODIV). ICES Scientific Reports (in press) |
| Start Year | 2021 |
| Description | International Convention for Exploration of the Seas (ICES) Working Group on Biodiversity Science (WGBIODIV) |
| Organisation | French Research Institute for the Exploitation of the Sea |
| Country | France |
| Sector | Public |
| PI Contribution | I have been chairing WGBIODIV since 2021, developing a strong international collaborative network, leading and co-authoring papers and reports that provide evidence of marine biodiversity change |
| Collaborator Contribution | Colleagues representing governments and academic institutions from across the North Atlantic have authored papers and reports, shared data and most importantly helped develop consensus, e.g., within ICES and OSPAR, on how to assess marine biodiversity and sustainable levels of human pressure. |
| Impact | 'Predictors of long-term variability in NE Atlantic plankton communities' 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2024.175793; 'Fish functional groups of the North Atlantic and Arctic Oceans' 10.5194/essd-2024-102 (in press) 'Assessing sea floor functional biodiversity and vulnerability' 10.3354/meps14270 'Pilot Assessment of Feeding Guilds. In: OSPAR, 2023: The 2023 Quality Status Report for the Northeast Atlantic. OSPAR Commission, London' https://www.researchgate.net/publication/369031275_Pilot_Assessment_of_Feeding_Guilds_In_OSPAR_2023_The_2023_Quality_Status_Report_for_the_Northeast_Atlantic_OSPAR_Commission_London#fullTextFileContent ICES. 2025. Working Group on Biodiversity Science (WGBIODIV). ICES Scientific Reports (in press) |
| Start Year | 2021 |
| Description | International Convention for Exploration of the Seas (ICES) Working Group on Biodiversity Science (WGBIODIV) |
| Organisation | Instituto Español de Estudios Estratégicos |
| Country | Spain |
| Sector | Public |
| PI Contribution | I have been chairing WGBIODIV since 2021, developing a strong international collaborative network, leading and co-authoring papers and reports that provide evidence of marine biodiversity change |
| Collaborator Contribution | Colleagues representing governments and academic institutions from across the North Atlantic have authored papers and reports, shared data and most importantly helped develop consensus, e.g., within ICES and OSPAR, on how to assess marine biodiversity and sustainable levels of human pressure. |
| Impact | 'Predictors of long-term variability in NE Atlantic plankton communities' 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2024.175793; 'Fish functional groups of the North Atlantic and Arctic Oceans' 10.5194/essd-2024-102 (in press) 'Assessing sea floor functional biodiversity and vulnerability' 10.3354/meps14270 'Pilot Assessment of Feeding Guilds. In: OSPAR, 2023: The 2023 Quality Status Report for the Northeast Atlantic. OSPAR Commission, London' https://www.researchgate.net/publication/369031275_Pilot_Assessment_of_Feeding_Guilds_In_OSPAR_2023_The_2023_Quality_Status_Report_for_the_Northeast_Atlantic_OSPAR_Commission_London#fullTextFileContent ICES. 2025. Working Group on Biodiversity Science (WGBIODIV). ICES Scientific Reports (in press) |
| Start Year | 2021 |
| Description | International Convention for Exploration of the Seas (ICES) Working Group on Biodiversity Science (WGBIODIV) |
| Organisation | National Oceanic And Atmospheric Administration |
| Department | National Severe Storms Laboratory, NOAA, USA |
| Country | United States |
| Sector | Public |
| PI Contribution | I have been chairing WGBIODIV since 2021, developing a strong international collaborative network, leading and co-authoring papers and reports that provide evidence of marine biodiversity change |
| Collaborator Contribution | Colleagues representing governments and academic institutions from across the North Atlantic have authored papers and reports, shared data and most importantly helped develop consensus, e.g., within ICES and OSPAR, on how to assess marine biodiversity and sustainable levels of human pressure. |
| Impact | 'Predictors of long-term variability in NE Atlantic plankton communities' 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2024.175793; 'Fish functional groups of the North Atlantic and Arctic Oceans' 10.5194/essd-2024-102 (in press) 'Assessing sea floor functional biodiversity and vulnerability' 10.3354/meps14270 'Pilot Assessment of Feeding Guilds. In: OSPAR, 2023: The 2023 Quality Status Report for the Northeast Atlantic. OSPAR Commission, London' https://www.researchgate.net/publication/369031275_Pilot_Assessment_of_Feeding_Guilds_In_OSPAR_2023_The_2023_Quality_Status_Report_for_the_Northeast_Atlantic_OSPAR_Commission_London#fullTextFileContent ICES. 2025. Working Group on Biodiversity Science (WGBIODIV). ICES Scientific Reports (in press) |
| Start Year | 2021 |
| Description | International Convention for Exploration of the Seas (ICES) Working Group on Biodiversity Science (WGBIODIV) |
| Organisation | Norwegian Institute for Nature Research |
| Country | Norway |
| Sector | Public |
| PI Contribution | I have been chairing WGBIODIV since 2021, developing a strong international collaborative network, leading and co-authoring papers and reports that provide evidence of marine biodiversity change |
| Collaborator Contribution | Colleagues representing governments and academic institutions from across the North Atlantic have authored papers and reports, shared data and most importantly helped develop consensus, e.g., within ICES and OSPAR, on how to assess marine biodiversity and sustainable levels of human pressure. |
| Impact | 'Predictors of long-term variability in NE Atlantic plankton communities' 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2024.175793; 'Fish functional groups of the North Atlantic and Arctic Oceans' 10.5194/essd-2024-102 (in press) 'Assessing sea floor functional biodiversity and vulnerability' 10.3354/meps14270 'Pilot Assessment of Feeding Guilds. In: OSPAR, 2023: The 2023 Quality Status Report for the Northeast Atlantic. OSPAR Commission, London' https://www.researchgate.net/publication/369031275_Pilot_Assessment_of_Feeding_Guilds_In_OSPAR_2023_The_2023_Quality_Status_Report_for_the_Northeast_Atlantic_OSPAR_Commission_London#fullTextFileContent ICES. 2025. Working Group on Biodiversity Science (WGBIODIV). ICES Scientific Reports (in press) |
| Start Year | 2021 |
| Description | International Convention for Exploration of the Seas (ICES) Working Group on Biodiversity Science (WGBIODIV) |
| Organisation | Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences |
| Country | Sweden |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | I have been chairing WGBIODIV since 2021, developing a strong international collaborative network, leading and co-authoring papers and reports that provide evidence of marine biodiversity change |
| Collaborator Contribution | Colleagues representing governments and academic institutions from across the North Atlantic have authored papers and reports, shared data and most importantly helped develop consensus, e.g., within ICES and OSPAR, on how to assess marine biodiversity and sustainable levels of human pressure. |
| Impact | 'Predictors of long-term variability in NE Atlantic plankton communities' 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2024.175793; 'Fish functional groups of the North Atlantic and Arctic Oceans' 10.5194/essd-2024-102 (in press) 'Assessing sea floor functional biodiversity and vulnerability' 10.3354/meps14270 'Pilot Assessment of Feeding Guilds. In: OSPAR, 2023: The 2023 Quality Status Report for the Northeast Atlantic. OSPAR Commission, London' https://www.researchgate.net/publication/369031275_Pilot_Assessment_of_Feeding_Guilds_In_OSPAR_2023_The_2023_Quality_Status_Report_for_the_Northeast_Atlantic_OSPAR_Commission_London#fullTextFileContent ICES. 2025. Working Group on Biodiversity Science (WGBIODIV). ICES Scientific Reports (in press) |
| Start Year | 2021 |
| Description | International Convention for Exploration of the Seas (ICES) Working Group on Biodiversity Science (WGBIODIV) |
| Organisation | University of Plymouth |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | I have been chairing WGBIODIV since 2021, developing a strong international collaborative network, leading and co-authoring papers and reports that provide evidence of marine biodiversity change |
| Collaborator Contribution | Colleagues representing governments and academic institutions from across the North Atlantic have authored papers and reports, shared data and most importantly helped develop consensus, e.g., within ICES and OSPAR, on how to assess marine biodiversity and sustainable levels of human pressure. |
| Impact | 'Predictors of long-term variability in NE Atlantic plankton communities' 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2024.175793; 'Fish functional groups of the North Atlantic and Arctic Oceans' 10.5194/essd-2024-102 (in press) 'Assessing sea floor functional biodiversity and vulnerability' 10.3354/meps14270 'Pilot Assessment of Feeding Guilds. In: OSPAR, 2023: The 2023 Quality Status Report for the Northeast Atlantic. OSPAR Commission, London' https://www.researchgate.net/publication/369031275_Pilot_Assessment_of_Feeding_Guilds_In_OSPAR_2023_The_2023_Quality_Status_Report_for_the_Northeast_Atlantic_OSPAR_Commission_London#fullTextFileContent ICES. 2025. Working Group on Biodiversity Science (WGBIODIV). ICES Scientific Reports (in press) |
| Start Year | 2021 |
| Description | Eastern Arc Podcast |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A broadcast e.g. TV/radio/film/podcast (other than news/press) |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Project members from University of East Anglia (Grilli), University of Essex (Shurety), and Cefas (Schratzberger and Thompson) recorded a podcast hosted by the Eastern Arc Consortium, a strategic collaboration between the universities of East Anglia, Essex and Kent, aimed at introducing and explaining key aspects of the Pyramids of Life project to a lay audience. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
| URL | https://easternarc.ac.uk/news/new-podcast-released-pyramids-of-life/ |
| Description | Online talk at the 6th Informal Consultation Session of the Expert Group on Food Webs at the HELCOM conference (Helsinki, Finland) titled 'Developing a Marine Food Web Indicator' |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Dr Murray Thompson (Cefas) shared details of a new pilot assessment of marine feeding guilds that has been accepted by OSPAR. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2024 |
| URL | https://www.ccb.se/event/2024-feb-helcom-consultation-eg-6 |
| Description | Poster presentation at the 5th International Symposium on the Effects of Climate Change on the World's Ocean (ECCWO5) titled 'Climate change affects the distribution of diversity across marine food webs' |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Presentation of poster - Climate change affects the distribution of diversity across marine food webs - at dedicated two hour session, with team available to answer questions. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
| Description | Presentation on feeding guilds at World Biodiversity Forum (Davos, Switzerland) |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Dr Murray Thompson (Cefas) shared details of a pilot assessment of marine feeding guilds that has been accepted by OSPAR. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2024 |
| Description | Presentation on feeding guilds to ICES Working Group on Biodiversity Science (WGBIODIV) |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Presentation of work on feeding guilds by Biodiversity Science Working Group Chair, Murray Thompson. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
| URL | https://www.ices.dk/news-and-events/meeting-calendar/Pages/ICES-CalendarDisp.aspx?sd=cdedc00f-5612-e... |
| Description | Presentation to EU Horizon project, titled 'Temporal change in the vertical and horizontal biodiversity across marine food webs' (Lowestoft, UK) |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Knowledge sharing with researchers from a marine focused EU Horizon project. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2024 |
| Description | Presentation to OSPARs Intersessional Correspondence Group on the Coordination of Biodiversity Assessment and Monitoring, Hamburg |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Policymakers/politicians |
| Results and Impact | Presentation of feeding guild pilot assessment by Cefas PI, Murray Thompson. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
| URL | https://oap.ospar.org/en/ospar-assessments/quality-status-reports/qsr-2023/indicator-assessments/fee... |
| Description | Presentations 'Unravelling food web patterns across diverse ecosystems' and 'Developing a Marine Food Web indicator' to IMT School for Advanced Studies (Lucca. Italy) |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Local |
| Primary Audience | Postgraduate students |
| Results and Impact | Scientific talks by Pyramids of Life Co-Is, Dr Daniel Perkins (Brunel) and Dr Murray Thompson (Cefas), to researchers and students at IMT School for Advanced Studies, Lucca, Italy. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2024 |
| Description | Presented work on quantitative links between plankton and planktivorous fish to Defra's Pelagic Habitats Expert Group (PHEG) |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Policymakers/politicians |
| Results and Impact | Opportunity to share initial findings of work examining the relationship between plankton and planktivorous fish with fisheries experts in Defra. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2024 |
| Description | Seminar to the University of York Mathematical Biology Research Group (York, UK) |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Local |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Talks by Pyramids of Life researchers, Dr James Scott (Cefas) and Dr Murray Thompson (Cefas), to academics and students from the Mathematical Biology Research Group at University of York. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2024 |
| Description | Talk at Challenger Conference (Oban, Scotland) titled 'Cod-u-later! Balanced harvesting - a case study' |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Dr James Scott (Cefas) presented a case in favour of a balanced harvest approach to UK fisheries management based on a case study focused on the Celtic Sea. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2024 |
| URL | https://challenger2024.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/3401_ExOrdo-challenger2024-Version-3.pdf |
| Description | Talk at ICES Annual Science Conference (Dublin, Ireland) titled 'Climate change affects the distribution of diversity across marine food webs' |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Talk by Murray Thompson on how climate change affects the distribution of diversity across marine food webs, co-authored by Cefas colleagues Elena Couce, Michaela Schratzberger and Chris Lynam. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
| URL | https://www.ices.dk/events/asc/ASC2022/Pages/default.aspx |
| Description | Talk at ICES annual conference (Gateshead, UK) titled 'Establishing good pelagic habitat conditions for pelagic fish' |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Lily Greig (Cefas) presented her latest work on how climate change impacts plankton and planktivorous fish biodiversity in the northeast Atlantic, examining links between food web components and their role in achieving Good Environmental Status. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2024 |
| Description | Talk at SMMR annual conference (Bristol, UK) titled 'A food web effect of bottom trawling on benthivorous fish biomass' |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Dr David Clare (Cefas) shared findings from his latest research into the impact of bottom trawling on benthivorous fish biomass. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
| URL | https://www.smmr.org.uk/annual-conference-breakdown/ |
| Description | Talk at SMMR annual conference (Bristol, UK) titled 'Developing a marine food web indicator' |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Dr Murray Thompson (Cefas) shared details of a new pilot assessment of marine feeding guilds that has been accepted by OSPAR. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
| URL | https://www.smmr.org.uk/annual-conference-breakdown/ |
| Description | Talk at SMMR annual conference (Bristol, UK) titled 'Exploring threshold responses of fish communities to gradients of natural and anthropogenic stressors' |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Presentation by Dr Elena Couce (Cefas) sharing findings of novel research into the effects of natural and human stress factors on fish communities based on threshold responses. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
| URL | https://www.smmr.org.uk/annual-conference-breakdown/ |
| Description | Talk at SMMR annual conference (Bristol, UK) titled 'Quantifying the capacity of the oceans to support human needs' |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Discussion of the ecological work that underpins the Pyramids of Life project. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
| URL | https://pyramidsoflife.york.ac.uk/blog-newsletters |
| Description | Talk at a workshop addressing the role of MPAs in reaching the 30 x 30 biodiversity goals hosted by SLU AQUA (Department of Aquatic Resources, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences) titled 'Developing a Marine Food Web Indicator' |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Dr Murray Thompson (Cefas) shared details of a new pilot assessment of marine feeding guilds that has been accepted by OSPAR. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
| Description | Talk to Defra's Healthy & Biologically Diverse Seas Evidence Group (HBDSEG) titled 'Developing a Marine Food Web Indicator' |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Policymakers/politicians |
| Results and Impact | Dr Murray Thompson (Cefas) shared details of a new pilot assessment of marine feeding guilds that has been accepted by OSPAR. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
| Description | Talk to Defra's Pelagic Habitats Expert Group (PHEG) titled 'Developing a Marine Food Web Indicator' |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Policymakers/politicians |
| Results and Impact | Dr Murray Thompson (Cefas) shared details of a new pilot assessment of marine feeding guilds that has been accepted by OSPAR. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |