Testing a changing Arctic food web

A published synthesis of northern Bering and Chukchi Sea observations is used to distinguish borealization from pelagic-benthic decoupling. Increasing influence of southerly species does not by itself demonstrate that less food reaches the seabed. The essay follows contrasting responses among pollock, snow crab, Arctic cod, and bivalves, retaining observations that complicate a single transition narrative. It explains how models standardise heterogeneous surveys into population indices without turning them into complete censuses. An exceptional initial year, sparse records, variability, and the distinction between an interval of warming and a full-period trend sharpen interpretation. The accompanying productivity discussion rejects a universal ecological benefit from greater algal production. Conclusions remain bounded by sampled regions and years, while consequences for harvesting and access require separate, locally governed evidence.