1. Smaller fish species in a warm and oxygen-poor Humboldt Current system
- Author
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Renato Salvatteci, Ralph R. Schneider, Eric Galbraith, David Field, Thomas Blanz, Thorsten Bauersachs, Xavier Crosta, Philippe Martinez, Vincent Echevin, Florian Scholz, Arnaud Bertrand, Center for Ocean and Society, Christian-Albrechts-Universität zu Kiel, Kiel, Germany, Institute of Geosciences [Kiel], Christian-Albrechts-Universität zu Kiel (CAU), Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences [Montréal] (EPS), McGill University = Université McGill [Montréal, Canada], College of Natural Sciences, Hawaii Pacific University, Environnements et Paléoenvironnements OCéaniques (EPOC), Observatoire aquitain des sciences de l'univers (OASU), Université Sciences et Technologies - Bordeaux 1 (UB)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Université Sciences et Technologies - Bordeaux 1 (UB)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-École Pratique des Hautes Études (EPHE), Université Paris sciences et lettres (PSL)-Université Paris sciences et lettres (PSL)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Processus et interactions de fine échelle océanique (PROTEO), Laboratoire d'Océanographie et du Climat : Expérimentations et Approches Numériques (LOCEAN), Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle (MNHN)-Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Sorbonne Université (SU)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Institut Pierre-Simon-Laplace (IPSL (FR_636)), École normale supérieure - Paris (ENS-PSL), Université Paris sciences et lettres (PSL)-Université Paris sciences et lettres (PSL)-Université de Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines (UVSQ)-Commissariat à l'énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives (CEA)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-École polytechnique (X)-Centre National d'Études Spatiales [Toulouse] (CNES)-Sorbonne Université (SU)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Université Paris Cité (UPCité)-École normale supérieure - Paris (ENS-PSL), Université Paris sciences et lettres (PSL)-Université Paris sciences et lettres (PSL)-Université de Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines (UVSQ)-Commissariat à l'énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives (CEA)-École polytechnique (X)-Centre National d'Études Spatiales [Toulouse] (CNES)-Sorbonne Université (SU)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Université Paris Cité (UPCité)-Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle (MNHN)-Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Sorbonne Université (SU)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Institut Pierre-Simon-Laplace (IPSL (FR_636)), Université Paris sciences et lettres (PSL)-Université Paris sciences et lettres (PSL)-Université de Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines (UVSQ)-Commissariat à l'énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives (CEA)-École polytechnique (X)-Centre National d'Études Spatiales [Toulouse] (CNES)-Sorbonne Université (SU)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Université Paris Cité (UPCité), Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research [Kiel] (GEOMAR), MARine Biodiversity Exploitation and Conservation (UMR MARBEC), and Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD)-Institut Français de Recherche pour l'Exploitation de la Mer (IFREMER)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Université de Montpellier (UM)
- Subjects
[SDU.OCEAN]Sciences of the Universe [physics]/Ocean, Atmosphere ,Geologic Sediments ,Multidisciplinary ,Pacific Ocean ,010504 meteorology & atmospheric sciences ,Climate Change ,Fishes ,Temperature ,Paleontology ,010502 geochemistry & geophysics ,01 natural sciences ,Oxygen ,[SDU.STU.CL]Sciences of the Universe [physics]/Earth Sciences/Climatology ,13. Climate action ,Peru ,Animals ,Body Size ,Seawater ,14. Life underwater ,[SDU.STU.OC]Sciences of the Universe [physics]/Earth Sciences/Oceanography ,Ecosystem ,0105 earth and related environmental sciences - Abstract
Climate change is expected to result in smaller fish size, but the influence of fishing has made it difficult to substantiate the theorized link between size and ocean warming and deoxygenation. We reconstructed the fish community and oceanographic conditions of the most recent global warm period (last interglacial; 130 to 116 thousand years before present) by using sediments from the northern Humboldt Current system off the coast of Peru, a hotspot of small pelagic fish productivity. In contrast to the present-day anchovy-dominated state, the last interglacial was characterized by considerably smaller (mesopelagic and goby-like) fishes and very low anchovy abundance. These small fish species are more difficult to harvest and are less palatable than anchovies, indicating that our rapidly warming world poses a threat to the global fish supply. Species shifts Our anthropogenically warmed climate will lead to a suite of organismal changes. To predict how some of these may occur, we can look to past warm (interglacial) periods. Salvatteci et al. used this approach and looked at a marine sediment record of the Humboldt Current system off the coast of Peru (see the Perspective by Yasuhara and Deutsch). They found that previous warm periods were dominated by small, goby-like fishes, whereas this ecosystem currently is dominated by anchovy-like fishes. Such a shift is not only relevant to ecosystem shifts but also to fisheries because anchovies are heavily fished as a food source and gobies are much less palatable than anchovies.
- Published
- 2022
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