The West Coast groundfish industry collapsed in 2000, but it recovered through the efforts of regulators, scientists and the fleet. Now it is working to rebuild the market and reconnect with a formerly active fishing ground along Oregon’s nearshore. In this report, we define nearshore as the shelf that extends...
Selecting an appropriate and efficient sampling strategy in biological surveys is a major concern in ecological research, particularly when the population abundance and individual traits of the sampled population are highly structured over space. Multi-stage sampling designs typically present sampling sites as primary units. However, to collect trait data, such...
The juvenile demersal fish assemblage along the Pacific Northwest coast has received little attention relative to adult life history stages since pioneering work in the 1970s. Increasing severity of hypoxia along the Oregon coast in recent years has prompted investigations into the response of biota in this region. We used...
Density-independent and density-dependent variables both affect the spatial distributions of species. However, their effects are often separately addressed using different analytical techniques. We apply a spatially explicit regression framework that incorporates localized, interactive and threshold effects of both density-independent (water temperature) and density-dependent (population abundance) variables, to study the spatial...
Density-independent and density-dependent variables both affect the spatial distributions of species. However, their effects are often separately addressed using different analytical techniques. We apply a spatially explicit regression framework that incorporates localized, interactive and threshold effects of both density-independent (water temperature) and density-dependent (population abundance) variables, to study the spatial...
Density-independent and density-dependent variables both affect the spatial distributions of species. However, their effects are often separately addressed using different analytical techniques. We apply a spatially explicit regression framework that incorporates localized, interactive and threshold effects of both density-independent (water temperature) and density-dependent (population abundance) variables, to study the spatial...
Density-independent and density-dependent variables both affect the spatial distributions of species. However, their effects are often separately addressed using different analytical techniques. We apply a spatially explicit regression framework that incorporates localized, interactive and threshold effects of both density-independent (water temperature) and density-dependent (population abundance) variables, to study the spatial...
Using national crop and livestock production records from 1961–2003 and satellite-derived data on pasture greenness from 1982–2003 we show that the productivity of crops, livestock, and pastures in Africa is predictably associated with the El Niño Southern Oscillation and the North Atlantic Oscillation. The causal relations of these results are...
Understanding responses of marine species to temperature variability is essential
to predict impacts of future climate change in the oceans. Most ectotherms are
expected to adjust their behavior to avoid extreme temperatures and minimize
acute changes in body temperature. However, measuring such behavioral plasticity
in the wild is challenging. Combining...
Understanding responses of marine species to temperature variability is essential
to predict impacts of future climate change in the oceans. Most ectotherms are
expected to adjust their behavior to avoid extreme temperatures and minimize
acute changes in body temperature. However, measuring such behavioral plasticity
in the wild is challenging. Combining...
Seascape ecology is an emerging discipline focused on understanding how features of the marine habitat influence the
spatial distribution of marine species. However, there is still a gap in the development of concepts and techniques for its
application in the marine pelagic realm, where there are no clear boundaries delimitating...
Seascape ecology is an emerging discipline focused on understanding how features of the marine habitat influence the
spatial distribution of marine species. However, there is still a gap in the development of concepts and techniques for its
application in the marine pelagic realm, where there are no clear boundaries delimitating...
For many organisms, the reconstruction of source-sink dynamics is hampered by limited knowledge of the spatial
assemblage of either the source or sink components or lack of information on the strength of the linkage for any source-sink
pair. In the case of marine species with a pelagic dispersal phase, these...
For many organisms, the reconstruction of source-sink dynamics is hampered by limited knowledge of the spatial
assemblage of either the source or sink components or lack of information on the strength of the linkage for any source-sink
pair. In the case of marine species with a pelagic dispersal phase, these...
The Bering Sea ecosystem has experienced significant climatic and biological shifts
over the past 3 decades, including temporal and spatial fluctuations of jellyfish biomass. Jellyfish
are important predators and competitors of fish; thus, it is critical to understand the effects of environmental
factors on their population dynamics. We explored the...
The Bering Sea ecosystem has experienced significant climatic and biological shifts
over the past 3 decades, including temporal and spatial fluctuations of jellyfish biomass. Jellyfish
are important predators and competitors of fish; thus, it is critical to understand the effects of environmental
factors on their population dynamics. We explored the...
Nearshore hypoxia along the coast of Oregon and Washington is a seasonal phenomenon that has generated concern among scientists studying this temperate upwelling ecosystem. These waters are affected by coastal upwelling-induced hypoxia mainly during late summer and fall, but the effects of low oxygen levels on fish and invertebrate communities,...
Understanding responses of marine species to temperature variability is essential to predict impacts of future climate change in the oceans. Most ectotherms are expected to adjust their behavior to avoid extreme temperatures and minimize acute changes in body temperature. However, measuring such behavioral plasticity in the wild is challenging. Combining...
Various ocean-climate models driven by increased greenhouse gases and higher temperatures predict a decline in oceanic dissolved oxygen (DO) as a result of greater stratification, reduced ventilation below the thermocline, and decreased solubility at higher temperatures. Since spreading of low oxygen waters is underway and predicted to increase, understanding impacts...
Seascape ecology is an emerging discipline focused on understanding how features of the marine habitat influence the
spatial distribution of marine species. However, there is still a gap in the development of concepts and techniques for its
application in the marine pelagic realm, where there are no clear boundaries delimitating...
We examined the feasibility of using a video beam trawl system to assess behavioral responses of juvenile flatfishes in relation to co-occurring habitat features, most notably dissolved oxygen (DO) concentrations. Sixteen samples were collected along a cross shelf transect in the central Oregon coast during summer 2008. We found that...
The Bering Sea responds rapidly to atmospheric perturbations and over the past several decades has experienced extreme variability in both its physical and biological characteristics. These changes can
impact organisms that inhabit the region, particularly marine fishes, as normal current patterns to which
reproductive habits are tuned can be disrupted,...
Pacific cod (Gadus macrocephalus) is an economically and ecologically important species in the southeastern
Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands, yet little is known about the spawning dynamics of Pacific cod in
these regions. To address this knowledge gap, we applied a gross anatomical maturity key for Pacific cod
to describe...
This study investigated the spatial distribution of juvenile North Pacific albacore (Thunnus alalunga) in relation to local environmental variability
[i.e. sea surface temperature (SST)], and two large-scale indices of climate variability, [the Pacific Decadal Oscillation (PDO) and theMultivariate
El Nino/Southern Oscillation Index (MEI)]. Changes in local and climate variables were...
For many organisms, the reconstruction of source-sink dynamics is hampered by limited knowledge of the spatial
assemblage of either the source or sink components or lack of information on the strength of the linkage for any source-sink
pair. In the case of marine species with a pelagic dispersal phase, these...
In this article we consider the current educational needs for science and policy in marine resource management, and we propose a way to address them. The existing literature on cross-disciplinary education in response to pressing environmental problems is vast, particularly in conservation biology. However, actual changes in doctoral-level marine science...
The Bering Sea ecosystem has experienced significant climatic and biological shifts
over the past 3 decades, including temporal and spatial fluctuations of jellyfish biomass. Jellyfish
are important predators and competitors of fish; thus, it is critical to understand the effects of environmental
factors on their population dynamics. We explored the...
There is growing evidence that climate and anthropogenic influences on marine ecosystems are largely manifested by changes in species spatial dynamics. However, less is known about how shifts in species distributions might alter predator-prey overlap and the dynamics of prey populations. We developed a general approach to quantify species spatial...
Despite being well adapted for feeding in cold water on their North Atlantic feeding
grounds, Atlantic bluefin tuna undertake long migrations to reach warm, low productivity spawn -
ing grounds in the Gulf of Mexico and Mediterranean Sea. Environmental conditions within
spawning areas have been presumed to benefit larval survival,...
Population growth is affected by several factors such as climate, species interaction
and harvesting pressure. However, additional complexity can arise if fishing increases the sensitivity
to environmental variability. To predict the effects of fisheries and climate on marine populations,
there is a need for improved understanding of how they affect...
In marine populations, spatial structure arises over a wide range of scales and forms
hierarchical aggregations. Changing spatial structure can alter the demographic and life history
trait variation within populations and subject individuals to both novel environmental conditions
and interspecific interactions. Thus, changes in the spatial structure of marine populations...
Predatorprey interactions are a primary structuring force vital to the resilience of marine communities and sustainability of the worlds oceans. Human influences on marine ecosystems mediate changes in species interactions. This generality is evinced by the cascading effects of overharvesting top predators on the structure and function of marine ecosystems....
The spawning habitats of many large marine pelagic predators are poorly known. This lack of knowledge hampers conservation efforts that are aimed at identifying critical habitats for the spawning of these species. We hypothesized that phylogenetically related species show different adaptations and respond differently to environmental and geographical cues for...
Certain ecological processes dominate others at particular scales, and the response of populations to exogenous and endogenous forces are typically scale dependent. In spite of this central role played by scale, the temporal and spatial scales of human impacts on ecosystems and populations remain almost unknown. We applied a multiscale...
Environmental variability is increasingly recognized as a primary determinant of year-class strength of marine fishes by directly or indirectly influencing egg and larval development, growth, and survival. Here we examined the role of annual water temperature variability in determining when and where walleye pollock (Theragra chalcogramma) spawn in the eastern...
We developed a hybrid cellular automata (CA) modelling approach to explore the dynamics of a key predator–prey interaction in a marine system; our study is motivated by the quest for better understanding of the scale and heterogeneity-related effects on the arrowtooth flounder (Atheresthes stomias) and walleye pollock (Theragra chalcogramma) dynamics...
Pacific cod (Gadus macrocephalus) is an important component of fisheries and food webs in the North Pacific Ocean and Bering Sea. However, vital rates of early life stages of this species have yet to be described in detail. We determined the thermal sensitivity of growth rates of embryos, pref lexion...
Capelin are a major component of cod diet in many ecosystems of the North Atlantic. In
the Bering Sea, however, the percentage of capelin found in Pacific cod stomachs is negligible. We
hypothesize that the landscape (or ‘seascape’) features of hydrography and bathymetry of the Bering
Sea impose a constraint...
This study examines potential interactions among the environmental variables likely to
affect larval walleye pollock Theragra chalcogramma feeding in the sea. Walleye pollock larvae were
sampled from Shelikof Strait, Gulf of Alaska, and from the eastern Bering Sea, with corresponding
environmental data. Variables used in our study were time spent...
Pacific cod (Gadus macrocephalus)is an important component of fisheries and food webs in the North Pacific Ocean and Bering Sea. However, vital rates of early life stages of this species have yet to be described in detail. We determined the thermal sensitivity of growth rates of embryos, pref lexion and...
Abundances of larval walleye pollock in Shelikof Strait, Gulf of Alaska, in 1981 were far
greater than any recorded estimates before that time or since (some patch estimates exceeded 100000
larvae per 10 m²). In spite of this extraordinary input, the ensuing 1981 year class was relatively poor.
An examination...