Spatial differences in estuarine utilization by seasonally resident species in Mid‐Atlantic Bight, USA

Abstract

Climate-driven distributional shifts have been well-documented for fisheries resources along the East Coast of the United States, yet little attention has been given to adjacent estuarine systems. The Chesapeake Bay is the largest estuary in the continental United States and serves as important habitat for a diversity of fishes and invertebrates, many of which are seasonal residents. Survey data indicate that relative abundance of finfish in Chesapeake Bay has diminished substantially, while coastwide stock status has remained unchanged. In response to warming, seasonal estuarine residents may remain in coastal waters or inhabit a northerly estuary, but the extent to which changing environmental conditions may drive exchange between the coastal ocean and estuarine systems remains unresolved. This study analyzed data collected from 2008 to 2019 by three fisheries-independent trawl surveys to explore temporal patterns and associated environmental drivers of the estuarinecoastal ocean exchange in the Mid-Atlantic for eight economically and ecologically important species. Relative habitat utilization of Chesapeake Bay declined for most species, while utilization patterns for Delaware Bay were largely constant or increasing over time. Broad-scale, multispecies analyses of relative habitat utilization time series revealed that the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) was an important driver of Chesapeake Bay exchange, but that average Apr/May coastal ocean bottom temperature was significant for Delaware Bay. Collectively, the results demonstrate that several Mid-Atlantic species have altered their estuarine habitat use over time, climate drivers associated with estuarine-coastal ocean exchange operate on different time scales, and that the impacts of warming within the Mid-Atlantic vary spatially.

Spatiotemporal patterns in the ecological community of the nearshore Mid-Atlantic Bight

“…It is worth noting, however, that none of the factor loadings of the EMT seasonal-spatial distributions were associated with Chesapeake Bay, one of the largest estuaries in the USA. These findings are consistent with documented, appreciable declines in the relative usage of this system by several seasonally resident taxa in recent years (Schonfeld et al 2022).…”

Environmental and climate variability drive population size of annual penaeid shrimp in a large lagoonal estuary

“…Intermediate to positive NAO phases were found to be beneficial for both juvenile and adult fall brown shrimp. The NAO index has previously been shown to be associated with shifts in marine species assemblages [ 56 ] and has been associated with changes in community composition and residency patterns in estuarine ecosystems [ 9 , 57 ]. Our results add to the body of work demonstrating the role of the NAO, and broader climate patterns, on estuarine-dependent species.…”

“…Less is known about how climate change will impact estuarine systems as compared to the coastal ocean, but it is anticipated that complex shifts in estuarine conditions will occur and alterations in habitat use by estuarine species have already been observed [ 8 , 9 ]. The Pamlico Sound in North Carolina is the second largest estuary in the United States and straddles Cape Hatteras, one of the most significant climate and biogeographic breaks in the world [ 10 , 11 ].…”

Cap. 21. Noreste. En: La Quinta Evaluación Nacional del Clima

“…En la Bahía de Chesapeake se observaron descensos significativos en el uso relativo del hábitat de varias especies de peces de aleta de importancia económica (p. ej., la corvina del Atlántico, la mancha y la platija de verano) entre 2008 y 2019 96 , debido en parte a la NAO.…”