Diets of juvenile coho Oncorhynchus kisutch and Chinook O. tshawytscha salmon
are made up primarily of winter-spawning fish taxa in the late-larval and early juvenile stages that
are undersampled in plankton and larger trawl nets. Although we have no direct measure of the
availability of fish prey important to juvenile...
Early ocean residence is considered a critical period for juvenile salmon although specific survival mechanisms are often unidentified and may vary by species or life stage. Columbia River spring-run Chinook salmon Oncorhynchus tshawytscha abundance has declined dramatically since the early 1900s. To elucidate mechanisms of early marine survival, we tested...
We compared brood sizes among adult female Euphausia pacifica Hansen, 1911 from 3
populations in the North Pacific: Puget Sound, Washington, USA; Toyama Bay, Japan; and the Oregon coast, USA. Additionally, we used multiple linear regression models to compare the interspecific brood size as a function of female length and...
Alongshore transport was estimated from the gridded AVISO altimeter data and water level data from NOAA tide gauges (1993–2010) for the northern California Current (NCC) system. The biomass of the cold neritic copepods including Calanus marshallae, Pseudocalanus mimus and Acartia longiremis (dominants in the eastern Bering Sea, coastal Gulf of...
Euphausiid krill play a critical role in coastal and oceanic food webs, linking primary producers to upper trophic levels. In addition, some species support commercial fisheries worldwide. Despite their ecological importance, the genetics of these important species remain poorly described. To improve our understanding of the genetics of these ecological...
The zooplankton of the northern California Current are typically characterized by an abundance of lipid-rich copepods that support rapid growth and survival of ecologically, commercially, and recreationally valued fish, birds, and mammals. Disruption of this food chain and reduced ecosystem productivity are often associated with climatic variability such as El...
The goal of the Pacific Ocean Boundary Ecosystem and Climate Study
(POBEX) was to diagnose the large-scale climate controls on regional transport
dynamics and lower trophic marine ecosystem variability in Pacific Ocean boundary
systems. An international team of collaborators shared observational and eddy-resolving
modeling data sets collected in the Northeast...
In 2014, the California Current (~28˚–48˚N) saw average, or below average, coastal upwelling and relatively low productivity in most locations, except from 38˚–43˚N during June and July. Chlorophyll-a levels were low throughout spring and summer at most locations, except in a small region around 39˚N. Catches of juvenile rockfish (an...
In 2013, the California current was dominated by
strong coastal upwelling and high productivity. Indices
of total cumulative upwelling for particular coastal
locations reached some of the highest values on record.
Chlorophyll a levels were high throughout spring and
summer. Catches of upwelling-related fish species were
also high. After a...
This report reviews the state of the California Current System (CCS) between winter 2012 and spring 2013, and includes observations from Washington State to Baja California. During 2012, large-scale climate modes indicated the CCS remained in a cool, productive phase present since 2007. The upwelling season was delayed north of...
The state of the California Current System (CCS)
since spring 2011 has evolved in response to dissipation
of La Niña through spring and summer, resurgence of
cooler La Niña conditions in fall and winter, and finally
a transition towards ENSO-neutral conditions in spring
2012. The resurgence of La Niña was...
Coastal upwelling in the northern California Current
varies seasonally, with downwelling in winter and upwelling
in summer, resulting in pronounced variability in
hydrography, nutrients, phytoplankton biomass, and species
composition. Winter was characterized by moderate concentrations
of nitrate and silicate (averages of 10 and 18 μM,
respectively) and low concentrations of...
This study addresses the occurrence, severity, and extent of hypoxia over the continental shelf of the northern
California Current (40–48.5°N latitude) from 1998 to 2012. Clear seasonal trends exist in the timing and duration
of hypoxia. The highest bottom-water dissolved oxygen concentrations occurred from November to March, and
levels below...
We examined variability in growth rate during the larval stage of northern anchovy (Engraulis mordax) in response to physical and biological environmental factors in 2005 and 2006. The onset of spring upwelling was anomalously delayed by 2–3 months until mid-July in 2005; in contrast, spring upwelling in 2006 began as...
The impact of mesoscale eddies on the spatial distribution of zooplankton biomass was analysed using data from the Arabian Sea and the Black Sea. The highest values of spatial variance of zooplankton biomass in the upper 100 to 150 m were found in regions with maximum available potential energy of...
During the summer of 1994, 1996, and 1997, we conducted hydrographic and plankton surveys of the upper 70 m in the nearshore, the continental shelf, and off shelf oceanic waters off Oregon, USA. Copepod densities and biomass were estimated along 4 transects from each cruise. The on shelf copepod biomass...
Most modeling and statistical approaches encourage simplicity, yet ecological processes are often complex, as they are influenced by numerous dynamic environmental and biological factors. Pacific salmon abundance has been highly variable over the last few decades and most forecasting models have proven inadequate, primarily because of a lack of understanding...
Large rivers represent gateways for the transport of
terrigenous and anthropogenic material to the coastal ocean.
Here we document a ∼700 km2 recirculation or bulge associated
with the Columbia River plume that retains recently discharged
river water sufficiently to create a regional bioreactor.
Fueled by a fluvial nitrate source, this...
The accumulation of domoic acid (DA) and saxitoxins (STX), phycotoxins produced by some species of Pseudo-nitzschia and Alexandrium, respectively, in coastal food webs are a focus of research on the West Coast of the United States due to the deleterious effects they have on coastal ecosystems and economies. Results are...
Generalized additive models (GAMs) were used to investigate the relationships between annual recruitment of natural coho salmon (Oncorhynchus kisutch) from Oregon coastal rivers and indices of the physical ocean environment. Nine indices were examined, ranging from large-scale ocean indicators, e.g., Pacific Decadal Oscillation (PDO), to indicators of the local ecosystem...