Finding mesopelagic prey in a changing Southern Ocean
Mesopelagic fish and squid occupy ocean depths extending below the photic zone and their vertical migrations represent a massive pathway moving energy and carbon through the water column. Their spatio-temporal distribution is however, difficult to map across remote regions particularly the vast Sout...
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Online Access: | https://researchers.mq.edu.au/en/publications/48c7e4e2-c6f1-471f-85da-6554ec410e34 https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-019-55152-4 https://research-management.mq.edu.au/ws/files/111945910/111572085.pdf http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85076426929&partnerID=8YFLogxK http://purl.org/au-research/grants/arc/DE180100828 http://purl.org/au-research/grants/arc/SR140300001 |
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ftmacquarieunicr:oai:https://researchers.mq.edu.au:publications/48c7e4e2-c6f1-471f-85da-6554ec410e34 2024-09-15T17:44:17+00:00 Finding mesopelagic prey in a changing Southern Ocean McMahon, Clive R. Hindell, Mark A. Charrassin, Jean Benoit Corney, Stuart Guinet, Christophe Harcourt, Robert Jonsen, Ian Trebilco, Rowan Williams, Guy Bestley, Sophie 2019-12-12 application/pdf https://researchers.mq.edu.au/en/publications/48c7e4e2-c6f1-471f-85da-6554ec410e34 https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-019-55152-4 https://research-management.mq.edu.au/ws/files/111945910/111572085.pdf http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85076426929&partnerID=8YFLogxK http://purl.org/au-research/grants/arc/DE180100828 http://purl.org/au-research/grants/arc/SR140300001 eng eng info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess McMahon , C R , Hindell , M A , Charrassin , J B , Corney , S , Guinet , C , Harcourt , R , Jonsen , I , Trebilco , R , Williams , G & Bestley , S 2019 , ' Finding mesopelagic prey in a changing Southern Ocean ' , Scientific Reports , vol. 9 , 19013 , pp. 1-11 . https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-019-55152-4 article 2019 ftmacquarieunicr https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-019-55152-4 2024-08-28T23:47:19Z Mesopelagic fish and squid occupy ocean depths extending below the photic zone and their vertical migrations represent a massive pathway moving energy and carbon through the water column. Their spatio-temporal distribution is however, difficult to map across remote regions particularly the vast Southern Ocean. This represents a key gap in understanding biogeochemical processes, marine ecosystem structure, and how changing ocean conditions will affect marine predators, which depend upon mesopelagic prey. We infer mesopelagic prey vertical distribution and relative abundance in the Indian sector of the Southern Ocean (20° to 130°E) with a novel approach using predator-derived indices. Fourteen years of southern elephant seal tracking and dive data, from the open ocean between the Antarctic Polar Front and the southern Antarctic Circumpolar Current front, clearly show that the vertical distribution of mesopelagic prey is influenced by the physical hydrographic processes that structure their habitat. Mesopelagic prey have a more restricted vertical migration and higher relative abundance closer to the surface where Circumpolar Deep Water rises to shallower depths. Combining these observations with a future projection of Southern Ocean conditions we show that changes in the coupling of surface and deep waters will potentially redistribute mesopelagic prey. These changes are small overall, but show important spatial variability: prey will increase in relative abundance to the east of the Kerguelen Plateau but decrease to the west. The consequences for deep-diving specialists such as elephant seals and whales over this time scale will likely be minor, but the changes in mesoscale vertical energy flow have implications for predators that forage within the mesopelagic zone as well as the broader pelagic ecosystem. Article in Journal/Newspaper Antarc* Antarctic Elephant Seal Elephant Seals Southern Elephant Seal Southern Ocean Macquarie University Research Portal Scientific Reports 9 1 |
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Open Polar |
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Macquarie University Research Portal |
op_collection_id |
ftmacquarieunicr |
language |
English |
description |
Mesopelagic fish and squid occupy ocean depths extending below the photic zone and their vertical migrations represent a massive pathway moving energy and carbon through the water column. Their spatio-temporal distribution is however, difficult to map across remote regions particularly the vast Southern Ocean. This represents a key gap in understanding biogeochemical processes, marine ecosystem structure, and how changing ocean conditions will affect marine predators, which depend upon mesopelagic prey. We infer mesopelagic prey vertical distribution and relative abundance in the Indian sector of the Southern Ocean (20° to 130°E) with a novel approach using predator-derived indices. Fourteen years of southern elephant seal tracking and dive data, from the open ocean between the Antarctic Polar Front and the southern Antarctic Circumpolar Current front, clearly show that the vertical distribution of mesopelagic prey is influenced by the physical hydrographic processes that structure their habitat. Mesopelagic prey have a more restricted vertical migration and higher relative abundance closer to the surface where Circumpolar Deep Water rises to shallower depths. Combining these observations with a future projection of Southern Ocean conditions we show that changes in the coupling of surface and deep waters will potentially redistribute mesopelagic prey. These changes are small overall, but show important spatial variability: prey will increase in relative abundance to the east of the Kerguelen Plateau but decrease to the west. The consequences for deep-diving specialists such as elephant seals and whales over this time scale will likely be minor, but the changes in mesoscale vertical energy flow have implications for predators that forage within the mesopelagic zone as well as the broader pelagic ecosystem. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
McMahon, Clive R. Hindell, Mark A. Charrassin, Jean Benoit Corney, Stuart Guinet, Christophe Harcourt, Robert Jonsen, Ian Trebilco, Rowan Williams, Guy Bestley, Sophie |
spellingShingle |
McMahon, Clive R. Hindell, Mark A. Charrassin, Jean Benoit Corney, Stuart Guinet, Christophe Harcourt, Robert Jonsen, Ian Trebilco, Rowan Williams, Guy Bestley, Sophie Finding mesopelagic prey in a changing Southern Ocean |
author_facet |
McMahon, Clive R. Hindell, Mark A. Charrassin, Jean Benoit Corney, Stuart Guinet, Christophe Harcourt, Robert Jonsen, Ian Trebilco, Rowan Williams, Guy Bestley, Sophie |
author_sort |
McMahon, Clive R. |
title |
Finding mesopelagic prey in a changing Southern Ocean |
title_short |
Finding mesopelagic prey in a changing Southern Ocean |
title_full |
Finding mesopelagic prey in a changing Southern Ocean |
title_fullStr |
Finding mesopelagic prey in a changing Southern Ocean |
title_full_unstemmed |
Finding mesopelagic prey in a changing Southern Ocean |
title_sort |
finding mesopelagic prey in a changing southern ocean |
publishDate |
2019 |
url |
https://researchers.mq.edu.au/en/publications/48c7e4e2-c6f1-471f-85da-6554ec410e34 https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-019-55152-4 https://research-management.mq.edu.au/ws/files/111945910/111572085.pdf http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85076426929&partnerID=8YFLogxK http://purl.org/au-research/grants/arc/DE180100828 http://purl.org/au-research/grants/arc/SR140300001 |
genre |
Antarc* Antarctic Elephant Seal Elephant Seals Southern Elephant Seal Southern Ocean |
genre_facet |
Antarc* Antarctic Elephant Seal Elephant Seals Southern Elephant Seal Southern Ocean |
op_source |
McMahon , C R , Hindell , M A , Charrassin , J B , Corney , S , Guinet , C , Harcourt , R , Jonsen , I , Trebilco , R , Williams , G & Bestley , S 2019 , ' Finding mesopelagic prey in a changing Southern Ocean ' , Scientific Reports , vol. 9 , 19013 , pp. 1-11 . https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-019-55152-4 |
op_rights |
info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-019-55152-4 |
container_title |
Scientific Reports |
container_volume |
9 |
container_issue |
1 |
_version_ |
1810491709510909952 |