Understanding Apex Predator and Pelagic Fish Habitat Utilization in the California Current System by Integrating Animal Tracking with in situ Oceanographic Observations

摘要

The long-term goals of this program are to map the oceanic habitats used by top predators in the California Current System (CCS) and broader Pacific Ocean and to characterize the environmental features that define these hotspot regions. This will be done by examining both top down and bottom up processes, and predicting how climate variability impacts the distribution and utilization of oceanic habitats by top predators. We are also developing methods that are required to integrate animal collected data into existing oceanographic databases. The integration and analysis of the diverse datasets requires the development of new software which is being developed collaboratively by the NMFS, UCSC, and Stanford as well as researchers from Sea Mammal Research Unit (SMRU) in Scotland. Develop a dynamic, ecosystem-based approach to map and understand habitat utilization by top marine predators in the Pacific Ocean, with an emphasis on the CCS. Specifically: (1) To map critical habitat of a variety of to predator species; (2) To link the distribution and movement patterns of these predators to physical and biological ocean features, in order to: a. determine how ocean dynamics act to aggregate diverse organisms; b. define the stability and community structure around biological hot spots; c. define the persistence of hot spots in space and time; d. examine the relationships among different species in the context of habitat utilization; e. identify the influence of top down and bottom up processes and their influence on dynamics of hot spots; (3) To map habitat distribution of commercially-viable and threatened fish stocks in the CCS, based on predator distribution and behavior from tracking data; (4) To quantify the seasonal and interannual variability of mesoscale ocean features (potential hot pots), from remotely sensed and in situ data.