Diversity in thermal affinity among key piscivores buffersimpacts of ocean warming on predator–prey interactions ...

• Main Authors: Selden, Rebecca L., Batt, Ryan D., Saba, Vincent S., Pinsky, Malin L.
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: Rutgers University 2018
• Subjects: Functional diversity; Marine; Predator–prey; Spatial overlap; Species distribution model; Climate Change; atlantic cod
• Online Access: https://dx.doi.org/10.7282/t3v1288v; https://scholarship.libraries.rutgers.edu/esploro/outputs/acceptedManuscript/991031550016904646

Asymmetries in responses to climate change have the potential to alter importantpredator–prey interactions, in part by altering the location and size of spatial refugiafor prey. We evaluated the effect of ocean warming on interactions between fourimportant piscivores and four of their prey in the U.S. Northeast Shelf by examiningspecies overlap under historical conditions (1968–2014) and with a doubling in CO2.Because both predator and prey shift their distributions in response to changingocean conditions, the net impact of warming or cooling on predator–prey interac-tions was not determined a priori from the range extent of either predator or preyalone. For Atlantic cod, an historically dominant piscivore in the region, we foundthat both historical and future warming led to a decline in the proportion of preyspecies’ range it occupied and caused a potential reduction in its ability to exerttop-down control on these prey. In contrast, the potential for overlap of spiny dog-fish with prey species was enhanced ...