Species distribution models describe spatial variability in mesopelagic fish abundance in the Southern Ocean
Introduction Mesopelagic fishes play a central role in the transfer of energy through open-ocean food webs, particularly in the Southern Ocean where they are both important predators of zooplankton and a key prey group for many higher predators. However, they are notoriously difficult to sample, whi...
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crfrontiers:10.3389/fmars.2022.981434 2024-05-19T07:31:32+00:00 Species distribution models describe spatial variability in mesopelagic fish abundance in the Southern Ocean Woods, Briannyn L. Van de Putte, Anton P. Hindell, Mark A. Raymond, Ben Saunders, Ryan A. Walters, Andrea Trebilco, Rowan 2023 http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fmars.2022.981434 https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fmars.2022.981434/full unknown Frontiers Media SA https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Frontiers in Marine Science volume 9 ISSN 2296-7745 journal-article 2023 crfrontiers https://doi.org/10.3389/fmars.2022.981434 2024-04-24T07:11:41Z Introduction Mesopelagic fishes play a central role in the transfer of energy through open-ocean food webs, particularly in the Southern Ocean where they are both important predators of zooplankton and a key prey group for many higher predators. However, they are notoriously difficult to sample, which has limited our understanding of the bio-physical predictors of their abundance and spatiotemporal variability. Species distribution models can be used to help understand species’ ecological requirements by relating records of their presence or abundance to environmental data. Methods Here, we used data from Myctobase – a new circumpolar database of mesopelagic fishes – to model patterns in abundance of eight key myctophid species (family Myctophidae) and the genus Bathylagus in the Southern Ocean south of 45°S. We developed species-specific boosted regression tree models to obtain circumpolar predictions of abundance. Average daytime and night-time summer predictions for the period 1997 to 2011 at 0 to 200m depths were generated for each species. Results Depth and solar position were important predictors and species were stratified in their depth distribution. For all species, except for G. nicholsi , there was an interaction between depth of capture and solar position, reflecting diel vertical migration. Other important variables included sea surface temperature, dissolved oxygen at 200 m, chlorophyll a , and sea surface height, indicating an association with water mass properties. Circumpolar patterns of abundance varied between species with some displaying affinities for oceanic regions at Antarctic latitudes (e.g., E. antarctica and Bathylagus spp.) or sub-Antarctic latitudes (e.g., K. anderssoni and P. tenisoni ); and affinities for shelf regions (e.g., P. bolini and G. nicholsi ). Discussion Our findings suggest that the abundance of mesopelagic fish is influenced by diel vertical migration and meso- and sub-mesoscale oceanographic features, with the Polar Front being a major delimiting feature. Our study ... Article in Journal/Newspaper Antarc* Antarctic Antarctica E. Antarctica Southern Ocean Frontiers (Publisher) Frontiers in Marine Science 9 |
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Introduction Mesopelagic fishes play a central role in the transfer of energy through open-ocean food webs, particularly in the Southern Ocean where they are both important predators of zooplankton and a key prey group for many higher predators. However, they are notoriously difficult to sample, which has limited our understanding of the bio-physical predictors of their abundance and spatiotemporal variability. Species distribution models can be used to help understand species’ ecological requirements by relating records of their presence or abundance to environmental data. Methods Here, we used data from Myctobase – a new circumpolar database of mesopelagic fishes – to model patterns in abundance of eight key myctophid species (family Myctophidae) and the genus Bathylagus in the Southern Ocean south of 45°S. We developed species-specific boosted regression tree models to obtain circumpolar predictions of abundance. Average daytime and night-time summer predictions for the period 1997 to 2011 at 0 to 200m depths were generated for each species. Results Depth and solar position were important predictors and species were stratified in their depth distribution. For all species, except for G. nicholsi , there was an interaction between depth of capture and solar position, reflecting diel vertical migration. Other important variables included sea surface temperature, dissolved oxygen at 200 m, chlorophyll a , and sea surface height, indicating an association with water mass properties. Circumpolar patterns of abundance varied between species with some displaying affinities for oceanic regions at Antarctic latitudes (e.g., E. antarctica and Bathylagus spp.) or sub-Antarctic latitudes (e.g., K. anderssoni and P. tenisoni ); and affinities for shelf regions (e.g., P. bolini and G. nicholsi ). Discussion Our findings suggest that the abundance of mesopelagic fish is influenced by diel vertical migration and meso- and sub-mesoscale oceanographic features, with the Polar Front being a major delimiting feature. Our study ... |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Woods, Briannyn L. Van de Putte, Anton P. Hindell, Mark A. Raymond, Ben Saunders, Ryan A. Walters, Andrea Trebilco, Rowan |
spellingShingle |
Woods, Briannyn L. Van de Putte, Anton P. Hindell, Mark A. Raymond, Ben Saunders, Ryan A. Walters, Andrea Trebilco, Rowan Species distribution models describe spatial variability in mesopelagic fish abundance in the Southern Ocean |
author_facet |
Woods, Briannyn L. Van de Putte, Anton P. Hindell, Mark A. Raymond, Ben Saunders, Ryan A. Walters, Andrea Trebilco, Rowan |
author_sort |
Woods, Briannyn L. |
title |
Species distribution models describe spatial variability in mesopelagic fish abundance in the Southern Ocean |
title_short |
Species distribution models describe spatial variability in mesopelagic fish abundance in the Southern Ocean |
title_full |
Species distribution models describe spatial variability in mesopelagic fish abundance in the Southern Ocean |
title_fullStr |
Species distribution models describe spatial variability in mesopelagic fish abundance in the Southern Ocean |
title_full_unstemmed |
Species distribution models describe spatial variability in mesopelagic fish abundance in the Southern Ocean |
title_sort |
species distribution models describe spatial variability in mesopelagic fish abundance in the southern ocean |
publisher |
Frontiers Media SA |
publishDate |
2023 |
url |
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fmars.2022.981434 https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fmars.2022.981434/full |
genre |
Antarc* Antarctic Antarctica E. Antarctica Southern Ocean |
genre_facet |
Antarc* Antarctic Antarctica E. Antarctica Southern Ocean |
op_source |
Frontiers in Marine Science volume 9 ISSN 2296-7745 |
op_rights |
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.3389/fmars.2022.981434 |
container_title |
Frontiers in Marine Science |
container_volume |
9 |
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1799469397621866496 |