A boundary current drives synchronous growth of marine fishes across tropical and temperate latitudes

J.J.L. Ong; A.N. Rountrey; B.A. Black; H.M. Nguyen; P.G. Coulson; S.J. Newman; C.B. Wakefield; J.J. Meeuwig; M.G. Meekan

doi:10.1111/gcb.14083

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A boundary current drives synchronous growth of marine fishes across tropical and temperate latitudes

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A boundary current drives synchronous growth of marine fishes across tropical and temperate latitudes

J.J.L. Ong, A.N. Rountrey, B.A. Black, H.M. Nguyen, P.G. Coulson, S.J. Newman, C.B. Wakefield, J.J. Meeuwig and M.G. Meekan

Global Change Biology, Vol.24(5), pp.1894-1903

2018

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/gcb.14083

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Abstract

Entrainment of growth patterns of multiple species to single climatic drivers can lower ecosystem resilience and increase the risk of species extinction during stressful climatic events. However, predictions of the effects of climate change on the productivity and dynamics of marine fishes are hampered by a lack of historical data on growth patterns. We use otolith biochronologies to show that the strength of a boundary current, modulated by the El Niño-Southern Oscillation, accounted for almost half of the shared variance in annual growth patterns of five of six species of tropical and temperate marine fishes across 23° of latitude (3000 km) in Western Australia. Stronger flow during La Niña years drove increased growth of five species, whereas weaker flow during El Niño years reduced growth. Our work is the first to link the growth patterns of multiple fishes with a single oceanographic/climate phenomenon at large spatial scales and across multiple climate zones, habitat types, trophic levels and depth ranges. Extreme La Niña and El Niño events are predicted to occur more frequently in the future and these are likely to have implications for these vulnerable ecosystems, such as a limited capacity of the marine taxa to recover from stressful climatic events.

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Title: A boundary current drives synchronous growth of marine fishes across tropical and temperate latitudes
Authors/Creators: J.J.L. Ong (Author/Creator) - Australian Institute of Marine Science
A.N. Rountrey (Author/Creator) - University of Michigan
B.A. Black (Author/Creator) - Marine Science Institute
H.M. Nguyen (Author/Creator) - Marine Science Institute
P.G. Coulson (Author/Creator) - Murdoch University
S.J. Newman (Author/Creator) - Government of Western Australia
C.B. Wakefield (Author/Creator) - Government of Western Australia
J.J. Meeuwig (Author/Creator) - The University of Western Australia
M.G. Meekan (Author/Creator) - Australian Institute of Marine Science
Publication Details: Global Change Biology, Vol.24(5), pp.1894-1903
Publisher: Wiley
Identifiers: 991005543680507891
Copyright: © 2018 John Wiley & Sons Ltd
Murdoch Affiliation: Centre for Fish and Fisheries Research
Language: English
Resource Type: Journal article

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Collaboration types: Domestic collaboration; International collaboration
Citation topics: 3 Agriculture, Environment & Ecology; 3.2 Marine Biology; 3.2.92 Fisheries Ecology
Web Of Science research areas: Biodiversity Conservation; Ecology; Environmental Sciences
ESI research areas: Environment/Ecology