Climate change impacts and vulnerabilities in Canada's pacific marine ecosystems /

Th is marine and coastal environment is unique and of cultural, socio- economic, and ecological signifi cance to the people of British Columbia and the rest of Canada. [...] We used two interlinked approaches in this eff ort to understand and synthesize the impacts of climate changes, on the local and regional marine ecosystems of Canada’s Pacifi c. Th ese were (1) a literary review of climate changes and projections, and the generally understood impacts on marine life, and (2) a screening-level vulnerability assessment of the region’s marine systems, habitats, and ma [...] Such a vulnerability assessment depends on the science of understanding (measuring and forecasting) the physical and chemical changes, and the responses of the habitats, species, and biological communities to them. [...] Climate change impacts to the Pacifi c coast aff ect the socio-economic well-being of B. C. communities in a multitude of ways and, conversely, that human dimension aff ects ecosystem health in terms of functional integrity, the production of ecosystem services, and the resistance and resilience to local and regional manifestations of climate change. [...] Section 3 is a review of physical and oceanographic changes that are currently being observed and are predicted to result from climate change in Canada’s Pacifi c. An overview of the impacts of these changes on marine life and the ecosystems in the region is presented in Section 4. Section 5 builds toward a vulnerability assessment and presents both a qualitative and quantitative approach to under