Influences of depth and pelagic subsidies on the size-based trophic structure of Beaufort Sea fish communities

Stasko, Ashley D.; Swanson, Heidi K.; Majewski, Andrew; Atchison, Sheila; Reist, James D.; Power, Michael

doi:10.3354/meps11709

Cited by 21 publications

(18 citation statements)

References 51 publications

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“…Measurements were taken at one meter intervals throughout the water-column to within five meters of bottom. Further details on water mass structure and sampling gear specifications can be found in Majewski et al (2017) and Stasko et al (2016).…”

Section: Accepted Manuscriptmentioning

confidence: 99%

Feeding of Greenland halibut (Reinhardtius hippoglossoides) in the Canadian Beaufort Sea

Giraldo

Stasko

Walkusz

et al. 2018

Journal of Marine Systems

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Trophic patterns for Greenland Halibut are reported for the first time in the Canadian Beaufort Sea and Amundsen Gulf (n = 269). Samples were collected from 2012 to 2014 on the upper (300-500 m) and lower continental slope (750-1500 m) and were analyzed for stomach contents, stable isotopes ratios and fatty acids (FA). Stomach contents indicated that Arctic Cod, Boreogadus saida, was the main prey ingested on the upper slope (50-94% of total biomass) whereas Gelatinous Snailfish (Liparis fabricii) and Zoarcids (Lycodes spp.) dominated diets on the lower slope (17-62% of total biomass). Stable isotope mixing models and FA analyses also identified benthopelagic fishes (i.e., Liparis spp., B. saida) as key prey and highlighted large dietary overlap among years and between the two depth categories. Greenland Halibut were characterized by relatively wide δ 13 C and narrow δ 15 N ranges that suggested use of both pelagic and benthic energy sources and a piscivorous diet. Calanus-type markers such as 20:1n9 dominated the FA (>20% of total FA) andemphasized the importance of pelagic-derived material in the diet. The contribution of pelagic and benthic-derived matter in the diet suggests that Greenland Halibut play a major role in the benthic-pelagic coupling for deep water communities (up to 1500 m) in the Canadian Beaufort Sea. Highlights► Greenland halibut's diet includes both pelagic and benthic sources. ► Low spatial (300 to 1500 m) and temporal (years 2012-2014) variability were observed. ► Biomarkers (SIA, FA) indicate that halibut is a piscivorous/opportunistic feeder. ► Halibut plays a major role in the benthic-pelagic coupling in the Canadian Arctic.2 Please note that this is an author-produced PDF of an article accepted for publication following peer review. The definitive publisher-authenticated version is available on the publisher Web site.

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Section: Accepted Manuscriptmentioning

confidence: 99%

Feeding of Greenland halibut (Reinhardtius hippoglossoides) in the Canadian Beaufort Sea

Giraldo

Stasko

Walkusz

et al. 2018

Journal of Marine Systems

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“…Size-spectra parameters have been selected by the European Union as one of several indicators used to evaluate sea-floor integrity (European Commission 2010, Rice et al 2012), and size-spectrum models continue to be widely applied (e.g. Taniguchi et al 2014, Álvarez et al 2016, Stasko et al 2016, Mindel et al 2018, van Gemert & Andersen 2018, Woodson et al 2018, Zhang et al 2018, Zhou et al 2019. Such applications require consistent calculation methods, especially when used for providing practical advice to fisheries (or ecosystem) managers.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Accounting for the bin structure of data removes bias when fitting size spectra

Edwards

Robinson

Blanchard

et al. 2020

Mar. Ecol. Prog. Ser.

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Size spectra are recommended tools for detecting the response of marine communities to fishing or to management measures. A size spectrum succinctly describes how a property, such as abundance or biomass, varies with body size in a community. Required data are often collected in binned form, such as numbers of individuals in 1 cm length bins. Numerous methods have been employed to fit size spectra, but most give biased estimates when tested on simulated data, and none account for the data’s bin structure (breakpoints of bins). Here, we used 8 methods to fit an annual size-spectrum exponent, b, to an example data set (30 yr of the North Sea International Bottom Trawl Survey). The methods gave conflicting conclusions regarding b declining (the size spectrum steepening) through time, and so any resulting advice to ecosystem managers will be highly dependent upon the method used. Using simulated data, we showed that ignoring the bin structure gives biased estimates of b, even for high-resolution data. However, our extended likelihood method, which explicitly accounts for the bin structure, accurately estimated b and its confidence intervals, even for coarsely collected data. We developed a novel visualisation method that accounts for the bin structure and associated uncertainty, provide recommendations concerning different data types and have created an R package (sizeSpectra) to reproduce all results and encourage use of our methods. This work is also relevant to wider applications where a power-law distribution (the underlying distribution for a size spectrum) is fitted to binned data.

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“…Large aggregations of zooplankton are closely associated with the shelf-break near the transition be-tween the Pacific and Atlantic water masses (Crawford et al 2012, Smoot & Hopcroft 2017 and in turn may explain high Arctic cod densities in the same layer (Majewski et al 2017). Large aggregations of benthopelagic fish might be ex pected to actively transfer some OM from the pelagic zone to the benthos (Stasko et al 2016), but in this study were instead associated with habitats with lower benthic−pelagic coupling. Deep zooplankton aggregations may have grazed substantial fractions of the above-produced POC, limiting POC avail ability at the seafloor for demersal fauna.…”

Section: Influence Of Vertical Water Mass Structurementioning

confidence: 60%

“…Where downward flux is low, substantial benthic secondary production may still be supported by the advection or entrainment of marine POC from nearby regions (Feder et al 2011), or by the active biological transport of food via vertically migrating biota (e.g. Connelly et al 2014, Stasko et al 2016. In addition, terrestrial carbon from river discharge and shoreline erosion is increasingly recognized as an important energy source for some Arctic benthic communities (Dunton et al 2006, Feder et al 2011.…”

Section: Open Pen Access Ccessmentioning

confidence: 99%

Benthic-pelagic trophic coupling in an Arctic marine food web along vertical water mass and organic matter gradients

Stasko¹,

Bluhm²,

Michel³

et al. 2018

Mar. Ecol. Prog. Ser.

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Influences of depth and pelagic subsidies on the size-based trophic structure of Beaufort Sea fish communities

Cited by 21 publications

References 51 publications

Feeding of Greenland halibut (Reinhardtius hippoglossoides) in the Canadian Beaufort Sea

Feeding of Greenland halibut (Reinhardtius hippoglossoides) in the Canadian Beaufort Sea

Accounting for the bin structure of data removes bias when fitting size spectra

Benthic-pelagic trophic coupling in an Arctic marine food web along vertical water mass and organic matter gradients

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