Historical Arctic Logbooks Provide Insights into Past Diets and Climatic Responses of Cod.
Gadus morhua (Atlantic cod) stocks in the Barents Sea are currently at levels not seen since the 1950s. Causes for the population increase last century, and understanding of whether such large numbers will be maintained in the future, are unclear. To explore this, we digitised and interrogated histo...
Published in: | PLOS ONE |
---|---|
Main Authors: | , , , , |
Format: | Article in Journal/Newspaper |
Language: | English |
Published: |
Public Library of Science (PLoS)
2015
|
Subjects: | |
Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0135418 https://doaj.org/article/98ed4b4bae8c4616ad7706c3aa8eddd0 |
id |
ftdoajarticles:oai:doaj.org/article:98ed4b4bae8c4616ad7706c3aa8eddd0 |
---|---|
record_format |
openpolar |
spelling |
ftdoajarticles:oai:doaj.org/article:98ed4b4bae8c4616ad7706c3aa8eddd0 2023-05-15T15:13:48+02:00 Historical Arctic Logbooks Provide Insights into Past Diets and Climatic Responses of Cod. Bryony L Townhill David Maxwell Georg H Engelhard Stephen D Simpson John K Pinnegar 2015-01-01T00:00:00Z https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0135418 https://doaj.org/article/98ed4b4bae8c4616ad7706c3aa8eddd0 EN eng Public Library of Science (PLoS) http://europepmc.org/articles/PMC4557987?pdf=render https://doaj.org/toc/1932-6203 1932-6203 doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0135418 https://doaj.org/article/98ed4b4bae8c4616ad7706c3aa8eddd0 PLoS ONE, Vol 10, Iss 9, p e0135418 (2015) Medicine R Science Q article 2015 ftdoajarticles https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0135418 2022-12-31T04:36:59Z Gadus morhua (Atlantic cod) stocks in the Barents Sea are currently at levels not seen since the 1950s. Causes for the population increase last century, and understanding of whether such large numbers will be maintained in the future, are unclear. To explore this, we digitised and interrogated historical cod catch and diet datasets from the Barents Sea. Seventeen years of catch data and 12 years of prey data spanning 1930-1959 cover unexplored spatial and temporal ranges, and importantly capture the end of a previous warm period, when temperatures were similar to those currently being experienced. This study aimed to evaluate cod catch per unit effort and prey frequency in relation to spatial, temporal and environmental variables. There was substantial spatio-temporal heterogeneity in catches through the time series. The highest catches were generally in the 1930s and 1940s, although at some localities more cod were recorded late in the 1950s. Generalized Additive Models showed that environmental, spatial and temporal variables are all valuable descriptors of cod catches, with the highest occurring from 15-45°E longitude and 73-77°N latitude, at bottom temperatures between 2 and 4°C and at depths between 150 and 250 m. Cod diets were highly variable during the study period, with frequent changes in the relative frequencies of different prey species, particularly Mallotus villosus (capelin). Environmental variables were particularly good at describing the importance of capelin and Clupea harengus (herring) in the diet. These new analyses support existing knowledge about how the ecology of the region is controlled by climatic variability. When viewed in combination with more recent data, these historical relationships will be valuable in forecasting the future of Barents Sea fisheries, and in understanding how environments and ecosystems may respond. Article in Journal/Newspaper Arctic atlantic cod Barents Sea Gadus morhua Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles Arctic Barents Sea PLOS ONE 10 9 e0135418 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles |
op_collection_id |
ftdoajarticles |
language |
English |
topic |
Medicine R Science Q |
spellingShingle |
Medicine R Science Q Bryony L Townhill David Maxwell Georg H Engelhard Stephen D Simpson John K Pinnegar Historical Arctic Logbooks Provide Insights into Past Diets and Climatic Responses of Cod. |
topic_facet |
Medicine R Science Q |
description |
Gadus morhua (Atlantic cod) stocks in the Barents Sea are currently at levels not seen since the 1950s. Causes for the population increase last century, and understanding of whether such large numbers will be maintained in the future, are unclear. To explore this, we digitised and interrogated historical cod catch and diet datasets from the Barents Sea. Seventeen years of catch data and 12 years of prey data spanning 1930-1959 cover unexplored spatial and temporal ranges, and importantly capture the end of a previous warm period, when temperatures were similar to those currently being experienced. This study aimed to evaluate cod catch per unit effort and prey frequency in relation to spatial, temporal and environmental variables. There was substantial spatio-temporal heterogeneity in catches through the time series. The highest catches were generally in the 1930s and 1940s, although at some localities more cod were recorded late in the 1950s. Generalized Additive Models showed that environmental, spatial and temporal variables are all valuable descriptors of cod catches, with the highest occurring from 15-45°E longitude and 73-77°N latitude, at bottom temperatures between 2 and 4°C and at depths between 150 and 250 m. Cod diets were highly variable during the study period, with frequent changes in the relative frequencies of different prey species, particularly Mallotus villosus (capelin). Environmental variables were particularly good at describing the importance of capelin and Clupea harengus (herring) in the diet. These new analyses support existing knowledge about how the ecology of the region is controlled by climatic variability. When viewed in combination with more recent data, these historical relationships will be valuable in forecasting the future of Barents Sea fisheries, and in understanding how environments and ecosystems may respond. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Bryony L Townhill David Maxwell Georg H Engelhard Stephen D Simpson John K Pinnegar |
author_facet |
Bryony L Townhill David Maxwell Georg H Engelhard Stephen D Simpson John K Pinnegar |
author_sort |
Bryony L Townhill |
title |
Historical Arctic Logbooks Provide Insights into Past Diets and Climatic Responses of Cod. |
title_short |
Historical Arctic Logbooks Provide Insights into Past Diets and Climatic Responses of Cod. |
title_full |
Historical Arctic Logbooks Provide Insights into Past Diets and Climatic Responses of Cod. |
title_fullStr |
Historical Arctic Logbooks Provide Insights into Past Diets and Climatic Responses of Cod. |
title_full_unstemmed |
Historical Arctic Logbooks Provide Insights into Past Diets and Climatic Responses of Cod. |
title_sort |
historical arctic logbooks provide insights into past diets and climatic responses of cod. |
publisher |
Public Library of Science (PLoS) |
publishDate |
2015 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0135418 https://doaj.org/article/98ed4b4bae8c4616ad7706c3aa8eddd0 |
geographic |
Arctic Barents Sea |
geographic_facet |
Arctic Barents Sea |
genre |
Arctic atlantic cod Barents Sea Gadus morhua |
genre_facet |
Arctic atlantic cod Barents Sea Gadus morhua |
op_source |
PLoS ONE, Vol 10, Iss 9, p e0135418 (2015) |
op_relation |
http://europepmc.org/articles/PMC4557987?pdf=render https://doaj.org/toc/1932-6203 1932-6203 doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0135418 https://doaj.org/article/98ed4b4bae8c4616ad7706c3aa8eddd0 |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0135418 |
container_title |
PLOS ONE |
container_volume |
10 |
container_issue |
9 |
container_start_page |
e0135418 |
_version_ |
1766344323521052672 |