Abundance and Distribution Patterns of Nekton and Micronekton in the Northern California Current Transition Zone

The epipelagic and mesopelagic nekton communities of the northern California Current have been sampled somewhat continuously over the last four decades with bottom and pelagic trawls, small midwater trawls, and purse seines. We review the zoogeography and community and environmental associations of the dominant pelagic micronekton and nekton species in this region with a view to understanding their role in this dynamic marine ecosystem. As is typical of many upwelling eastern boundary current regions, the pelagic biomass is dominated by a few species that fluctuate dramatically through time. The abundance trends of pelagic nekton caught in this region demonstrated large-scale ecosystem changes about the time of the regime shifts of 1976/77 and 1989 and possibly another beginning in 1999. The rapidity of the changes in composition indicates that the response was due to a change in migration or distribution patterns as opposed to recruitment patterns. The 1989 regime shift led to a dramatic increase in sardine and a decrease in anchovy populations. The most pronounced interannual signals were attributed to strong El Niño/Southern Oscillation (ENSO) conditions in 1983 and 1998 that altered the latitudinal ranges and proximity to the coast of many pelagic species. Variations in abundance and cross-shelf distribution patterns were noted for both pelegic nekton and micronektonic from surveys off California, Oregon, and Washington.     

Pelagic food web interactions and hypolimnetic oxygen depletion: Results from experimental enclosures and lakes

Large lakes enclosures were used to examine the influence of nutrient (P, N) enrichment and planktivorous fish (1 + yellow perch) predation on hypolimnetic oxygen depletion. Results were compared to similar data for lakes with high (Lake St. George) and low (Haynes Lake) abundances of planktivorous fish. In both the unfertilized and fertilized enclosures, fish predation on large cladocerans increased the biomasses of pico- and nanoplankton (0.2–20 µm), phytoplankton (chlorophyll a) and total phosphorus (TP), reduced sedimentation, water clarity, and hypolimnetic oxygen concentrations (AHO). Fertilized enclosures without fish had highest TP and sedimentation rates, but the AHO were low. The high planktivore lake had higher pico- and nanoplankton, higher chlorophyll a, reduced water clarity, and lower AHO than the low planktivore lake. Areal hypolimnetic oxygen depletion (AHOD) rates were strongly related with Secchi depth and plankton size-distribution (r ² = 0.77, and 0.79, respectively), but not as strongly with TP, chlorophyll a, and sedimentation rates (r ² = 0.25, 0.53, and 0.02, respectively). Such observations are useful in forming a generalized hypothesis that lakes with low planktivory and high water clarity have lower oxygen depletion because 1) plankton that are settling are larger and spend less time in the hypolimnetic water column before reaching the sediment, and therefore undergo less decomposition, and 2) the euphotic depth extends into the hypolimnion and production of oxygen can take place.