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://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-019-55152-4 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/31831763 http://ecite.utas.edu.au/136429 |
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ftunivtasecite:oai:ecite.utas.edu.au:136429 2023-05-15T13:55:18+02:00 Finding mesopelagic prey in a changing Southern Ocean McMahon, CR Hindell, MA Charrassin, J-B Corney, S Guinet, C Harcourt, R Jonsen, I Trebilco, R Williams, G Bestley, S 2019 application/pdf https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-019-55152-4 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/31831763 http://ecite.utas.edu.au/136429 en eng Nature Publishing Group http://ecite.utas.edu.au/136429/1/136429 - Finding mesopelagic prey in a changing Southern Ocean.pdf http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41598-019-55152-4 http://purl.org/au-research/grants/arc/DE180100828 McMahon, CR and Hindell, MA and Charrassin, J-B and Corney, S and Guinet, C and Harcourt, R and Jonsen, I and Trebilco, R and Williams, G and Bestley, S, Finding mesopelagic prey in a changing Southern Ocean, Scientific Reports, 9, (1) Article 19013. ISSN 2045-2322 (2019) [Refereed Article] http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/31831763 http://ecite.utas.edu.au/136429 Biological Sciences Ecology Marine and Estuarine Ecology (incl. Marine Ichthyology) Refereed Article PeerReviewed 2019 ftunivtasecite https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-019-55152-4 2020-03-23T23:16:15Z 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 130E) 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 eCite UTAS (University of Tasmania) Antarctic Southern Ocean The Antarctic Kerguelen Indian Scientific Reports 9 1 |
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Open Polar |
collection |
eCite UTAS (University of Tasmania) |
op_collection_id |
ftunivtasecite |
language |
English |
topic |
Biological Sciences Ecology Marine and Estuarine Ecology (incl. Marine Ichthyology) |
spellingShingle |
Biological Sciences Ecology Marine and Estuarine Ecology (incl. Marine Ichthyology) McMahon, CR Hindell, MA Charrassin, J-B Corney, S Guinet, C Harcourt, R Jonsen, I Trebilco, R Williams, G Bestley, S Finding mesopelagic prey in a changing Southern Ocean |
topic_facet |
Biological Sciences Ecology Marine and Estuarine Ecology (incl. Marine Ichthyology) |
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 130E) 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, CR Hindell, MA Charrassin, J-B Corney, S Guinet, C Harcourt, R Jonsen, I Trebilco, R Williams, G Bestley, S |
author_facet |
McMahon, CR Hindell, MA Charrassin, J-B Corney, S Guinet, C Harcourt, R Jonsen, I Trebilco, R Williams, G Bestley, S |
author_sort |
McMahon, CR |
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 |
publisher |
Nature Publishing Group |
publishDate |
2019 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-019-55152-4 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/31831763 http://ecite.utas.edu.au/136429 |
geographic |
Antarctic Southern Ocean The Antarctic Kerguelen Indian |
geographic_facet |
Antarctic Southern Ocean The Antarctic Kerguelen Indian |
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_relation |
http://ecite.utas.edu.au/136429/1/136429 - Finding mesopelagic prey in a changing Southern Ocean.pdf http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41598-019-55152-4 http://purl.org/au-research/grants/arc/DE180100828 McMahon, CR and Hindell, MA and Charrassin, J-B and Corney, S and Guinet, C and Harcourt, R and Jonsen, I and Trebilco, R and Williams, G and Bestley, S, Finding mesopelagic prey in a changing Southern Ocean, Scientific Reports, 9, (1) Article 19013. ISSN 2045-2322 (2019) [Refereed Article] http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/31831763 http://ecite.utas.edu.au/136429 |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-019-55152-4 |
container_title |
Scientific Reports |
container_volume |
9 |
container_issue |
1 |
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1766261718526197760 |