Exceptional 20th Century Shifts in Deep-Sea Ecosystems Are Spatially Heterogeneous and Associated With Local Surface Ocean Variability

Traditionally, deep-sea ecosystems have been considered to be insulated from the effects of modern climate change, but with recognition importance food supply surface ocean and currents sustaining these systems, potential for rapid response benthic systems change is gaining increasing attention. However, very few ecological time-series exist deep covering twentieth century. Benthic responses past well-documented using marine sediment cores on glacial-interglacial timescales, sediments also begun reveal that planktic species assemblages are already being influenced by global warming. Here, we use foraminifera found in mid-latitude subpolar North Atlantic show that, locations beneath areas major water changed significantly over last ∼150 years. The maximum occurs which seen large changes circulation, temperature, and/or productivity. We infer observed surface-deep coupling due organic matter exported delivered seafloor. local-to-regional scale nature highlights accurate projections will require (1) increased spatial coverage proxy records, (2) models capable adequately resolving relatively small-scale oceanographic features.