Warming shelf seas drive the subtropicalization of European pelagic fish communities

Pelagic fishes are among the most ecologically and economically important fish species in European seas. In principle, these pelagic fishes have potential to demonstrate rapid abundance and distribution shifts in response to climatic variability due to their high adult motility, planktonic larval st...

Full description

Saved in:

Bibliographic Details
Published in:	Global change biology Vol. 21; no. 1; pp. 144 - 153
Main Authors:	Montero‐Serra, Ignasi, Edwards, Martin, Genner, Martin J
Format:	Journal Article
Language:	English
Published:	England Blackwell Science 01-01-2015 Blackwell Publishing Ltd
Subjects:	adults Animal Distribution Animals Climate Change Clupea harengus community changes continental shelf Ecosystem Engraulis encrasicolus Europe Fish fish communities Fishes - physiology Global warming habitats larvae life history Marine ecology marine monitoring North Atlantic Ocean Ocean temperature Oceans and Seas pelagic fish Population Dynamics sardines Scomber Scomber scombrus Sprattus sprattus surface temperature surveys Temperature Trachurus trachurus North Sea Baltic Sea Europe ANE, North Sea ANE, Baltic Sea community changes marine monitoring North Atlantic Ocean pelagic fish climate change
Online Access:	Get full text
Tags:	Add Tag No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!

Description
Summary:	Pelagic fishes are among the most ecologically and economically important fish species in European seas. In principle, these pelagic fishes have potential to demonstrate rapid abundance and distribution shifts in response to climatic variability due to their high adult motility, planktonic larval stages, and low dependence on benthic habitat for food or shelter during their life histories. Here, we provide evidence of substantial climate‐driven changes to the structure of pelagic fish communities in European shelf seas. We investigated the patterns of species‐level change using catch records from 57 870 fisheries‐independent survey trawls from across European continental shelf region between 1965 and 2012. We analysed changes in the distribution and rate of occurrence of the six most common species, and observed a strong subtropicalization of the North Sea and Baltic Sea assemblages. These areas have shifted away from cold‐water assemblages typically characterized by Atlantic herring and European sprat from the 1960s to 1980s, to warmer‐water assemblages including Atlantic mackerel, Atlantic horse mackerel, European pilchard and European anchovy from the 1990s onwards. We next investigated if warming sea temperatures have forced these changes using temporally comprehensive data from the North Sea region. Our models indicated the primary driver of change in these species has been sea surface temperatures in all cases. Together, these analyses highlight how individual species responses have combined to result in a dramatic subtropicalization of the pelagic fish assemblage of the European continental shelf.
Bibliography:	http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/gcb.12747 ark:/67375/WNG-2WTL6VH3-B Figure S1. Physical parameters of the European continental shelf over the study period. (a) Mean sea surface temperature 1965 to 2012; (b) Changes in mean sea surface temperature from 1965 to 2012; (c) Bathymetry; (d) Mean sea temperature 1965 to 2012. Data from −20°E to 30°W; 35°N to 70°N. Figure S2. Abundance of (a) C. finmarchicus and (b) C. Helgolandicus in the North Sea. Data were obtained by the Continuous Plankton Recorder (CPR) from 1972 to 2012 and year averages were calculated within the North Sea area (51°N to 63°N, 5°W to 16°E). Abundance in individuals per sample (3 m3). Figure S3. Mean frequency of occurrence (± SD) of species across cells in the North Sea area during the IBTS surveys 1972-2012 for: (a) Atlantic herring; (b) European sprat; (c) Atlantic mackerel; (d) Atlantic horse mackerel; (e) European pilchard; (f) European anchovy. Figure S4. Spatial comparisons of frequency of occurrence from IBTS survey data (period 2005-2012), and other abundance datasets for the North Sea area (51°N to 63°N, 5°W to 16°E). Figure S5. North Sea IBTS spatial data coverage, measured using the number of 1 × 1 cells that have been surveyed since the survey began in 1965. From 1972 onwards, more than 85% of the total cells were surveyed. Figure S6. Trends in the rate of occurrence of pelagic species in the North Sea from 1972 to 2012. Pearson's correlation coefficients between annual rate of occurrence and year within each cell over the time period. Table S1. The datasets analysed. Quarters refers to the time of the year that the surveys were (1 = January - March, 2 = April - June, 3 = July - September, 4 = October - December). Each cell represents 1° Latitude × 1° Longitude. Table S2. Spearman rank correlation coefficients between frequency of occurrence in North Sea from 1972 and 2012, and fisheries mortality/landings data for the same region. Landings data were from FAO (2014) Sprat fishing mortality data from ICES (2013a). istex:C94CC79AEA9BB54E184127181CFA060766EEE9CD European Commission ArticleID:GCB12747 Spanish Minister of Education ObjectType-Article-1 SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1 ObjectType-Feature-2 content type line 23
ISSN:	1354-1013 1365-2486
DOI:	10.1111/gcb.12747