SEABIRD ECOLOGY, EL NIñO ANOMALIES, AND PREDICTION OF SARDINE FISHERIES IN THE GULF OF CALIFORNIA

Velarde, Enriqueta; Ezcurra, Exequiel; Cisneros-Mata, Miguel Á.; Lavín, Miguel F.

doi:10.1890/02-5320

Cited by 75 publications

(62 citation statements)

References 26 publications

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“…Recruitment appeared to be modulated by El Niño/ La Niña events, as has been observed for algal beds (Pacheco-Ruíz et al 2003), small pelagic fishes (Sánchez-Velaso et al 2000), and sea bird populations (Velarde et al 2004) in the region. Colder La Niña years that are characterized by high nutrient concentrations in seawater enhance algal growth (Dayton et al 1992(Dayton et al , 1999) with a consequent increase in leopard grouper recruitment.…”

Section: Resultssupporting

confidence: 53%

“…Predicting the magnitude of fisheries catches based on environmental variables is relatively straightforward when the time lag between the former and the latter is only a few months (e.g. pelagic migratory species such as sardines [Velarde et al 2004], or mackerels [Arcos et al 2001]). For species with complex life cycles that include ontogenetic habitat shifts that last for years, predicting abundance and catch years in advance is more problematic.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Climatic influence on reef fish recruitment and fisheries

Aburto‐Oropeza¹,

Paredes²,

Mascareñas‐Osorio³

et al. 2010

Mar. Ecol. Prog. Ser.

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Interannual and interdecadal variability of the recruitment and spawning stock biomass of fish has been observed for many pelagic commercial species. For reef fish, climate variability has been considered only as a pre-recruitment factor that has stochastic impacts on the survival of eggs and larvae during their pelagic stage. Here we show that fisheries landings of reef fish are related to climatic conditions that occurred at the time of settlement. Using detailed studies on the life history of 2 important commercial species (yellow snapper and leopard grouper) and a compilation of landing statistics over 11 yr in the Gulf of California, we established that increasing recruitment translated into greater fisheries landings and increased revenue once individuals recruited into fishery stocks. Recruitment appeared to be modulated by El Niño/La Niña events. Monitoring of reef fish recruitment could be used to adapt artisanal fisheries management ahead of time, allowing regulation of effort or setting of quotas based on the variability of climate indices. KEY WORDS: Yellow snapper · Lutjanus · Leopard grouper · Mycteroperca · Fisheries revenue · Multivariate ENSO index Resale or republication not permitted without written consent of the publisherMar Ecol Prog Ser 410: [283][284][285][286][287] 2010 sum beds), and juveniles travel to adult habitats over a 2 yr period. We monitored the abundance of these 2 species since 1998, and compiled fisheries landing statistics for the Gulf of California over 11 yr, to determine whether it is possible to predict fish recruitment and landings based on available a priori climate indices. MATERIALS AND METHODSAbundance of juveniles. To estimate interannual variation in yellow snapper and leopard grouper abundance, we surveyed 21 rocky reefs in the central and southern parts of the Gulf of California (AburtoOropeza et al. 2007). Data were collected every September from 1998 to 2008 by SCUBA divers using 50 × 5 m line transects (n = 4 to 6 replicate transects site). All individuals belonging to different size classes in a visual range of < 2 m (Harmelin-Vivien et al. 1985) were counted. Total length (TL) of yellow snappers and leopard groupers was estimated in 5 cm intervals with the help of a PVC plastic tube. Divers swam along each transect at a constant speed, counting and estimating the size of all individuals within 2.5 m on either side of the transect line (250 m 2 transect area). The authors were experienced at visually surveying fish assemblages and estimating fish lengths accurately (Sala et al. 2002).Although we counted individuals of all sizes, we included only leopard grouper individuals with a total length of up to 15 cm, since they were the young of the year. However, since young of the year for yellow snapper are present only inside mangroves, we used individuals with a total length between 15 and 25 cm, which correspond to the smaller sizes that are seen in the rocky reefs and are individuals between 1.2 and 2.1 yr old (Aburto-Oropeza et al. 2009). We can...

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Section: Resultssupporting

confidence: 53%

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Climatic influence on reef fish recruitment and fisheries

Aburto‐Oropeza¹,

Paredes²,

Mascareñas‐Osorio³

et al. 2010

Mar. Ecol. Prog. Ser.

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“…In the same manner as El Niño conditions can predict quite well the volume of some pelagic fisheries (46), it is also conceivable that restoration ecology, grazing regimes, carrying capacities, and fire risks may be predicted and managed better by analyzing the ENSO predictors and related oceanographic conditions. Furthermore, identifying the factors triggering moisture pulses may also be very important for the management of runoff-dependent systems, such as rivers, inland lakes, reservoirs, and coastal lagoons.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…That is, we evaluate the statistical predictability of high-rainfall anomalies on arid and semiarid ecosystems based on the Southern Oscillation Index (SOI) (44,45), a measure of monthly fluctuations in the air pressure above the equatorial Pacific Ocean that is strongly correlated with sea-surface temperature in the Mexican Pacific (46).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Divergent ecological effects of oceanographic anomalies on terrestrial ecosystems of the Mexican Pacific coast

Caso

González-Abraham

Ezcurra

2007

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

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Precipitation pulses are essential for the regeneration of drylands and have been shown to be related to oceanographic anomalies. However, whereas some studies report increased precipitation in drylands in northern Mexico during El Niñ o years, others report increased drought in the southern drylands. To elucidate the effect of oceanographic/atmospheric anomalies on moisture pulses along the whole Pacific coast of Mexico, we correlated the average Southern Oscillation Index values with total annual precipitation for 117 weather stations. We also analyzed this relationship for three separate rainfall signals: winter-spring, summer monsoon, and fall precipitation. The results showed a distinct but divergent seasonal pattern: El Niñ o events tend to bring increased rainfall in the Mexican northwest but tend to increase aridity in the ecosystems of the southern tropical Pacific slope. The analysis for the separated rainfall seasons showed that El Niñ o conditions produce a marked increase in winter rainfall above 22°latitude, whereas La Niñ a conditions tend to produce an increase in the summer monsoon-type rainfall that predominates in the tropical south. Because these dryland ecosystems are dependent on rainfall pulses for their renewal, understanding the complex effect of ocean conditions may be critical for their management in the future. Restoration ecology, grazing regimes, carrying capacities, fire risks, and continental runoff into the oceans could be predicted from oceanographic conditions. Monitoring the coupled atmosphere-ocean system may prove to be important in managing and mitigating the effects of large-scale climatic change on coastal drylands in the future.coastal drylands ͉ deserts ͉ El Niñ o ͉ rainfall pulses ͉ tropical dry forests

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“…The scientific literature has been sensitive to the warning message involving climate warming and papers dealing with seabirds have not been an exception (Votier et al, 2008a). Massive breeding failures following climate perturbations have attracted the attention of researchers, and records on El Niño events and its ecological consequences are a good example (e.g., Glantz, 2001;Velarde et al, 2004;Devney et al, 2009). In general, the literature shows that climate variability influences most ecological parameters analyzed, including range shifts (in breeding but mostly in foraging areas) and changes in both phenology and demographic parameters (including survival, dispersal, recruitment and breeding propensity).…”

Section: Climate and Its Influence On Seabirdsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Seabirds and climate: knowledge, pitfalls, and opportunities

Oró

2014

Front. Ecol. Evol.

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As a physical driver of ecosystem functioning, it is not surprising that climate influences seabird demography and population dynamics, generally by affecting food availability. However, if we zoom in ecologically, seabirds are in fact very heterogeneous, ranging in size from very small to very large species (with a difference of more than two orders of magnitude in body weight), from planktivorous forms to predators of large fish and squid, from benthic to pelagic, from species with small foraging ranges to species feeding throughout the whole circumpolar region, and from resident species (at a spatial mesoscale) to trans-equatorial migrating seabirds that travel large distances across several oceanographic systems. Due to this high variability and the difficulty in obtaining direct reliable estimates of long-term food availability, global climatic indices have been extensively used in studying seabird demography and population dynamics. However, the use made by researchers of these indices has certain conceptual and methodological pitfalls, which I shall address in this review. Other factors, such as anthropogenic impacts (including oil-spills and interaction with fisheries), may further alter or confound the association between climate and seabird demography. These pitfalls and environmental noise, together with the inability to incorporate resilience, may bias our predictions regarding the future impact of global warming on seabirds, many of which have vulnerable populations.Keywords: predictive models, resilience, methodological bias, evolution, global change, climate, seabirds HISTORICAL BACKGROUNDA search performed in June 2014 using the words "climate & seabird" in the ISI Web of Science resulted in 946 items. Even though some of those items dealt with other marine organisms or were focused on some related issues (such as oceanographic processes), that result represents a large number of scientific contributions on the topic of how climate may influence seabird ecology. The influence of climate on marine organisms has been extensively studied in seabirds because, compared to most other species (except some marine mammals such as seals and sealions), their demography and population dynamics can be easily monitored in breeding colonies.Up to the 90s, the changes in demographic parameters and population size in seabirds were explored mostly in relation to intrinsic features of the colonies such as their size or the presence of predators (Hunt et al., 1986). The effects of climate (mostly in the form of oceanographic indices) on seabird ecology were seldom analyzed in those years (Myres, 1979), and research efforts were addressed mostly to determining the distribution of seabirds at sea (Abrams, 1985). The influence of oceanographic features was outlined especially when extreme and anomalous events occurred (such as cyclones or El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) years (e.g., Blomqvist and Peterz, 1984;Graybill and Hodder, 1985), whereas some pioneering studies dealt with the relationship between climatic ev...

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SEABIRD ECOLOGY, EL NIñO ANOMALIES, AND PREDICTION OF SARDINE FISHERIES IN THE GULF OF CALIFORNIA

Cited by 75 publications

References 26 publications

Climatic influence on reef fish recruitment and fisheries

Climatic influence on reef fish recruitment and fisheries

Divergent ecological effects of oceanographic anomalies on terrestrial ecosystems of the Mexican Pacific coast

Seabirds and climate: knowledge, pitfalls, and opportunities

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