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Science 23 August 2002:
Vol. 297. no. 5585, pp. 1292 - 1296
DOI: 10.1126/science.1071281
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Review

Ecological Effects of Climate Fluctuations

Nils Chr. Stenseth,12* Atle Mysterud,1 Geir Ottersen,3dagger James W. Hurrell,4 Kung-Sik Chan,5 Mauricio Lima6

Climate influences a variety of ecological processes. These effects operate through local weather parameters such as temperature, wind, rain, snow, and ocean currents, as well as interactions among these. In the temperate zone, local variations in weather are often coupled over large geographic areas through the transient behavior of atmospheric planetary-scale waves. These variations drive temporally and spatially averaged exchanges of heat, momentum, and water vapor that ultimately determine growth, recruitment, and migration patterns. Recently, there have been several studies of the impact of large-scale climatic forcing on ecological systems. We review how two of the best-known climate phenomena--the North Atlantic Oscillation and the El Niño-Southern Oscillation--affect ecological patterns and processes in both marine and terrestrial systems.

1 Department of Biology, Division of Zoology, University of Oslo, Post Office Box 1050 Blindern, N-0316 Oslo, Norway.
2 Department of Coastal Zone Studies, Institute of Marine Research, Flødevigen Marine Research Station, N-4817 His, Norway.
3 Institute of Marine Research, Post Office Box 1870 Nordnes, N-5024 Bergen, Norway.
4 National Center for Atmospheric Research, Boulder, CO 80307, USA.
5 Department of Statistics and Actuarial Science, University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA 52242, USA.
6 Center for Advanced Studies in Ecology and Biodiversity, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Post Office Box 114-D, Santiago CP 6513677, Chile.
*   To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: n.c.stenseth{at}bio.uio.no

dagger    Present address: Department of Biology, Division of Zoology, University of Oslo, Post Office Box 1050 Blindern, N-0316 Oslo, Norway.

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