Publisher :
Place of publication :
Publication year : 2005
Thematic : Climate Change and Biodiversity
Language : English
Note
Changes in fish distribution and climate in the North Atlantic have been observed for
millennia by seafaring peoples, chronicled in many historical anecdotes, and recently
studied systematically. For temperate to Arctic North Atlantic fish, a literature compendium
of limits of temperature, salinity, and depth during feeding and spawning was used to
investigate factors that influence distribution. Latitude and depth were negatively correlated
with species number and density. Peak numbers of species feed at 0e4(C, but spawn at
2e7(C and salinities of 32.5e33.5. Principal components of feeding depths and
temperatures suggested four groups of species: (i) small pelagics characterized by shallow
habitat and cooler temperatures; (ii) most groundfish in deeper and warmer waters; (iii)
warm-water large pelagics; and (iv) deepwater species. Spawning temperatures, salinities,
depths, and timing produced groupings consistent with feeding components for pelagics,
but differing for distant migrants such as tunas. Principal components (PCA) of spawning
characteristics explained 56% of the variance in species resilience (doubling time), while
PCA of feeding characteristics explained only 23%. We infer that the small pelagics capelin
(Mallotus villosus) and herring (Clupea harengus) react strongly and quickly to climate
change because of their physiological limits and potential for fast population growth.
Verification comes from Icelandic and Greenland waters, which warmed considerably
during 1920e1940, and where capelin, herring, cod (Gadus morhua), and other species
shifted north very quickly.
Go to source
Keywords : outbreeding depression
Encoded by : Pauline Carmel Joy Eje
