Climate-driven aerobic habitat loss in the California Current System

Howard, Evan M.; Penn, Justin L.; Frenzel, Hartmut; Seibel, Brad A.; Bianchi, Daniele; Renault, Lionel; Kessouri, Fayçal; Sutula, Martha; McWilliams, James C.; Deutsch, Curtis

doi:10.1126/sciadv.aay3188

Cited by 93 publications

(105 citation statements)

References 36 publications

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“…We evaluate model output for upwelling velocity ( w ), temperature (T), dissolved nitrate (NO 3 − ) and oxygen (O 2 ) concentrations, and net primary productivity (NPP; rates of net autotrophic production available to support the CCS ecosystem). O 2 in particular is a key ecosystem variable and biogeochemical tracer that is rarely evaluated in regional simulations of the future CCS (Dussin et al, 2019; Howard et al, 2020). We take this approach in order to distinguish which mechanisms are most important in driving changing biogeochemistry and to identify whether changes in the specific evaluated variables are well constrained in the future CCS.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Attributing Causes of Future Climate Change in the California Current System With Multimodel Downscaling

Howard

Frenzel

Kessouri

et al. 2020

Global Biogeochemical Cycles

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Coastal winds in the California Current System (CCS) are credited with the high productivity of its planktonic ecosystem and the shallow hypoxic and corrosive waters that structure diverse macrofaunal habitats. These winds thus are considered a leading mediator of climate change impacts in the CCS and other Eastern Boundary Upwelling systems. We use an eddy-permitting regional model to downscale the response of the CCS to three of the major distinct climate changes commonly projected by global Earth System Models: regional winds, ocean warming and stratification, and remote water chemical properties. An increase in alongshore winds intensifies spring upwelling across the CCS, but this response is muted by increased stratification, especially during summer. Despite the seasonal shift in regional wind-driven upwelling, basin-scale changes are the decisive factor in the response of marine ecosystem properties including temperature, nutrients, productivity, and oxygen. Downscaled temperature increases and dissolved oxygen decreases are broadly consistent with coarse resolution Earth System Models, and these projected changes are large and well constrained across the models, whereas nutrient and productivity changes are small compared to the intermodel spread. These results imply that global models with poor resolution of coastal processes nevertheless yield important information about the dominant climate impacts on coastal ecosystems.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Attributing Causes of Future Climate Change in the California Current System With Multimodel Downscaling

Howard

Frenzel

Kessouri

et al. 2020

Global Biogeochemical Cycles

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“…Coupled physical‐biogeochemical models yield insight into the mechanisms shaping alongshore variability at spatiotemporal scales that observational studies cannot concurrently resolve. Existing modeling studies for the CCS have provided important knowledge about processes controlling pH and oxygen variability, and the predictability of their seasonal, interannual, and long‐term evolution (Brady et al, 2020; Dussin et al, 2019; Gruber et al, 2012; Hauri, Gruber, McDonnell, & Vogt, 2013; Hauri, Gruber, Vogt, et al, 2013; Howard et al, 2020; Siedlecki et al, 2015, 2016). Many of these studies focused on regional‐ and basin‐scale mechanisms influencing ocean acidification and hypoxia, obscuring pH and oxygen variability at finer alongshore scales (10–100 km) over which processes modulating these variables (e.g., upwelling intensity, nutrient transport, and primary production) are known to vary in the central CCS (Fiechter et al, 2018).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Physical and Biogeochemical Drivers of Alongshore pH and Oxygen Variability in the California Current System

Cheresh

Fiechter

2020

Geophysical Research Letters

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In the California Current System (CCS), the nearshore environment experiences natural exposure to low pH and reduced oxygen in response to coastal upwelling. Anthropogenic impacts further decrease pH and oxygen below biological thresholds, making the CCS particularly vulnerable to ocean acidification and hypoxia. Results from a coupled physical-biogeochemical model reveal a strongly heterogeneous alongshore pattern of nearshore pH and oxygen in the central CCS, both in their long-term means and trends. This spatial structuring is explained by an interplay between alongshore variability in local upwelling intensity and subsequent primary production, modulated by nearshore advection and regional geostrophic currents. The model solution suggests that the progression of ocean acidification and hypoxia will not be spatially homogeneous, thereby highlighting the need to consider subregional processes when assessing natural and anthropogenic impacts on coastal ecosystems in eastern boundary current upwelling regions. Plain Language Summary Ocean acidification and hypoxia result from decreasing pH and oxygen levels in the ocean and threaten marine organisms adapted to a specific range of conditions. Along the west coast of the United States, these impacts are particularly severe, because this region exhibits naturally lower pH and oxygen conditions. Our study uses a computer model to show that upwelling, a process in which deeper water (rich in nutrients but also low in pH and oxygen) is brought to the surface, and photosynthesis by phytoplankton, which raises pH and oxygen, are important processes controlling nearshore pH and oxygen at the surface of the ocean. The results also indicate that these processes are not uniform in space or time and are shaped by alongshore changes in the intensity of upwelling and the strength and direction of ocean currents. A key finding from our study is that threats faced by marine organisms from the future progression of ocean acidification and hypoxia along the west coast of the United States will greatly vary by location.

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“…Biomonitoring for common murre, rockfish, and whales in the CCE is usually carried out using visual surveys. The assays we developed here, along with assays that have been previously developed for krill, sardines, anchovies, and mackerel [36,51] In addition to increased monitoring efforts on specific species, an important emerging use of such data sets in the CCE is understanding larger scale questions such as how global climate change is affecting food webs [52].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Quantitative PCR assays to detect humpback whale (Megaptera novaeangliae), shortbelly rockfish (Sebastes jordani), and common murre (Uria aalge) in marine water samples

Andruszkiewicz

Yamahara

Closek

et al. 2020

Preprint

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Monitoring aquatic species by identification of environmental DNA (eDNA) is becoming more common. In order to obtain quantitative datasets for individual species, species-specific quantitative PCR (qPCR) assays are required. Here, we present detailed methodology of qPCR assay design and testing, including in silico, in vitro, and in vivo testing, and comment on the challenges associated with assay design and performance. We use the presented methodology to design assays for three important marine organisms common in the California Current Ecosystem (CCE): humpback whale (Megaptera novaeangliae), shortbelly rockfish (Sebastes jordani), and common murre (Uria aalge). All three assays have excellent sensitivity and high efficiencies ranging from 92% to 99%. However, specificities of the assays varied from species-specific in the case of common murre to the genus-specific shortbelly rockfish assay, to the humpback whale assay which cross-amplified with other two other whale species, including one in a different family. All assays detected their associated targets in complex environmental water samples.

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Climate-driven aerobic habitat loss in the California Current System

Cited by 93 publications

References 36 publications

Attributing Causes of Future Climate Change in the California Current System With Multimodel Downscaling

Attributing Causes of Future Climate Change in the California Current System With Multimodel Downscaling

Physical and Biogeochemical Drivers of Alongshore pH and Oxygen Variability in the California Current System

Quantitative PCR assays to detect humpback whale (Megaptera novaeangliae), shortbelly rockfish (Sebastes jordani), and common murre (Uria aalge) in marine water samples

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