How Climate Variation is Related to Anchovy Recruitment in the California Current
December 09, 2021
The different responses of anchovy to changing climate in the California Current domain show the benefit of the present approach to find how anchovy may respond under future ecosystem conditions.
We analyzed a historical simulation (1965-2000) from an end-to-end ecosystem model of anchovy population dynamics for the California Current System to untangle the effects of warm versus cool conditions on recruitment.
Our analysis was focused on isolating the effects of the well-documented El Niño Southern Oscillation signal and 3 climate regimes on spawning habitat, development, and survival of eggs and yolk-sac larvae, growth and survival of larvae and juveniles, and ultimately recruitment of anchovy.
More effort is needed to improve certain biological aspects of the study so that it can replicate empirically estimated recruitment fluctuations.
Overall, the altered responses of anchovy to changing climate in the California Current domain illustrate the benefit of the present mechanistic approach to infer how anchovy may respond under future ecosystem conditions.
Politikos DV, Rose KA, Curchitser EN, Checkley DM Jr , Rykaczewski RR, Fiechter J. 2021. Climate variation and anchovy recruitment in the California current: a cause-and-effect analysis of an end-to-end model simulation. Marine Ecology Progress Series.Volume 680:111-136. https://doi.org/10.3354/meps13853.