Patagonian Shelf-Break Front: The Ecosystem Services Hot-Spot of the South West Atlantic Ocean

Abstract

Marine fronts are typically associated with relatively sharp changes in temperature and/or salinity and are characterized by their high nutrient concentrations and phytoplankton biomass. Additionally, top-down and bottom-up processes that involve primary production propagate the structure to the entire ecosystem. As we have seen in the previous chapters, the Patagonian shelf-break front (PSBF) shows marine consumers and biogeochemical cycles coupled to its high primary production. For instance, different groups of vertebrates are coupled to primary production through trophic interactions, and the large amount of phytoplankton photosynthesizing constitutes the so-called biological pump capturing CO2 from the atmosphere. The high biological abundance as well as the high rates of the different ecological processes occurring in the PSBF has been suggested to support a higher provision of marine ecosystem services (ES) in comparison with adjacent areas. In this sense, the PSBF can be seen as a hot-spot of ecosystem services. This chapter explores this hypothesis by revisiting the evidence, identifying gaps, and proposing further lines of research.