Ocean surface characteristics influence recruitment variability of populations of northern shrimp (Pandalus borealis) in the Northwest Atlantic

Abstract

Ouellet, P., Fuentes-Yaco, C., Savard, L., Platt, T., Sathyendranath, S., Koeller, P., Orr, D., and Siegstad, H. 2011. Ocean surface characteristics influence recruitment variability of populations of northern shrimp (Pandalus borealis) in the Northwest Atlantic. – ICES Journal of Marine Science, 68: 737–744. Remotely sensed data were used to derive simple ecosystem indicators for four regions of the Northwest Atlantic to test the hypothesis that sea surface temperatures (SSTs) and spring phytoplankton bloom characteristics (initiation, timing, intensity, and duration) have a significant influence on larval survival and recruitment of northern shrimp (Pandalus borealis). For all years (1998–2007) and regions, hatching was after the initiation of the bloom and before or after the bloom reached its maximum intensity. The results suggest that the best survival of larvae is associated with high warming rates of SST following hatching, but in very cold environments, warm temperatures at hatching seem to be important for larval survival. The analyses also indicate that larval survival is supported by an early, long phytoplankton bloom which attains high concentrations of chlorophyll a. The results demonstrate the potential of remotely sensed data for deriving simple population-specific ecosystem indicators for potential use in building operational recruitment models for predicting changes in northern shrimp abundance.

Climate change and northern shrimp recruitment variability in the Gulf of Maine

“…Previous authors have speculated that the most important effect of temperature might be on timing of the hatch relative to the timing of the plankton bloom (Stickney & Perkins 1977, Richards et al 1996. Close temporal matches between hatch timing and the spring phytoplankton bloom have been shown for several northern shrimp populations across the North Atlantic (Koeller et al 2009, Ouellet et al 2011; however, the GOM hatch was an exception to this pattern (Koeller et al 2009). In our analysis, PC2 (primarily autumn bottom temperature) was not as important as PC1 (spring temperatures), suggesting that hatch timing and/or brood parasitism may be less critical than a variety of potential spring temperature effects.…”

“…In a meta-analysis of 9 northern shrimp populations, Worm & Myers (2003) found that biomass was directly influenced by predation pressure in most populations, but not by ocean temperature. Recruitment and larval survival were negatively correlated with SST in the Gulf of St. Lawrence (Ouellet et al 2007), but in later studies, the relationship was not significant (Ouellet et al 2011). However, positive correlations between recruitment and temperature have been seen in the Barents Sea (Aschan & Ingvaldsen 2009) and off West Greenland (Wieland 2005), both near the species' northern limit.…”

Predation by Atlantic cod Gadus morhua on northern shrimp Pandalus borealis in inshore and offshore areas of Iceland

“…Although cod predation has an impact on northern shrimp biomass, other factors, such as fishing (Savenkoff et al 2007), ocean climate variability (Wieland 2005, Ouellet et al 2011, size of areas of suitable habitat and larval transport (Koeller 2000) may also be important factors in regulating shrimp abundance. Further work is needed to evaluate how northern shrimp may respond to changes in predator abundances in relation to other factors, such as temperature, other ocean climate variables, abundance of other prey, and the distribution of predators and prey.…”

Effects of climate and predation on subarctic crustacean populations

“…However, the overall effect of lower temperatures on recruitment is positive (Marcello et al 2012), implying that positive effects on early survival dominate recruitment dynamics. In contrast, northern shrimp off West Greenland benefit from warmer surface layer temperatures, presumably due to enhanced food availability for the larvae, as long as bottom temperatures are also warmer to ensure a match between the time of hatching and the plankton bloom (Koeller et al 2009, Ouellet et al 2011, Wieland & Siegstad 2012.…”