Today our paper "Moving on up: Vertical distribution shifts in rocky reef fish species during climate-driven decline in dissolved oxygen from 1995 to 2009" came out in the journal Global Change Biology. This study shows evidence that 23 species / life stages of rocky reef fish in the Santa Barbara Channel have changed vertical distributions over a 15 year period. Most of these fish distributions moved to shallower reef areas. This may be explained by a concurrent decline in dissolved oxygen concentrations, especially at depth. As the study progressed, the water at the deepest reefs became hypoxic. The apparent distribution shift may be a result of fish moving to shallower reefs where oxygen concentrations are higher, or it could be due to increased mortality rates of fish at the lower, more hypoxic reefs. Understanding these climate-driven distribution changes is critical for informing effective fishery management. This study was publicized in the UCSB Current. Today our paper "Ocean Regime Shift is Driving Collapse of the North Atlantic Right Whale Population" was published in Oceanography. New York Times featured our research here. This paper shows that a northward shift in the path of the Gulf Stream that is consistent with anthropogenic climate change has contributed to a new regime shift in the Gulf of Maine ecosystem. With support from Lenfest Ocean Program, we processed shelved samples of zooplankton from the Continuous Plankton Recorder to demonstrate the decline in prey abundance for right whales. We show that since 2010, ocean temperatures in the deep basins and channels of the Gulf of Maine have warmed, and adult Calanus finmarchicus has declined, likely due to an increased contribution of Gulf Stream-associated slope water into the region. This decline in prey abundance negatively impacted right whales in two ways: low prey caused a decline in calving rates, and in the search for new foraging habitats, right whales were exposed to unprotected waters and faced higher rates of ship strikes and fishing gear entanglement. This rapid, climate-driven distribution shift should serve as a lesson to ocean scientists and policy makers. We need to shift our efforts towards predicting and monitoring potential changes in the habitat use of managed species to prevent future crises. |
AuthorErin Meyer-Gutbrod is an Assistant Professor at the University of South Carolina. Her lab researches human impacts to marine ecosysems. Archives
April 2024
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