Oxygen limitations on marine animal distributions and the collapse of epibenthic community structure during shoaling hypoxia

Deoxygenation in the global ocean is predicted to induce ecosystem‐wide changes. Analysis of multidecadal oxygen time‐series projects the northeast Pacific to be a current and future hot spot of oxygen loss. However, the response of marine communities to deoxygenation is unresolved due to the lack o...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Global change biology 2015-08, Vol.21 (8), p.2989-3004
Main Authors: Chu, Jackson W. F, Tunnicliffe, Verena
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Animal Distribution
Animals
Aquatic Organisms
bias
Biodiversity
Biogeography
Climate change
community structure
Crustacea
deoxygenation
dynamics
epibenthos
fish
habitat shrinkage
habitats
homogenization
Hypoxia
in situ oxygen limits
Marine biology
mortality
ocean hypoxia
Ocean Networks Canada
oceans
oxygen
Oxygen - analysis
oxygen loss
Pacific Ocean
population
Saanich Inlet
Seawater - chemistry
surveys
time series analysis
Venus
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Summary:Deoxygenation in the global ocean is predicted to induce ecosystem‐wide changes. Analysis of multidecadal oxygen time‐series projects the northeast Pacific to be a current and future hot spot of oxygen loss. However, the response of marine communities to deoxygenation is unresolved due to the lack of applicable data on component species. We repeated the same benthic transect (n = 10, between 45 and 190 m depths) over 8 years in a seasonally hypoxic fjord using remotely operated vehicles equipped with oxygen sensors to establish the lower oxygen levels at which 26 common epibenthic species can occur in the wild. By timing our surveys to shoaling hypoxia events, we show that fish and crustacean populations persist even in severe hypoxia (
ISSN:1354-1013
1365-2486
DOI:10.1111/gcb.12898