Effects of sea ice on Arctic biota: an emerging crisis discipline

The rapid decline in Arctic sea ice (ASI) extent, area and volume during recent decades is occurring before we can understand many of the mechanisms through which ASI interacts with biological processes both at sea and on land. As a consequence, our ability to predict and manage the effects of this enormous environmental change is limited, making this a crisis discipline . Here, we propose a framework to study these effects, defining direct...