Nutrient Enrichment of Chesapeake Bay and Its Impact on the Habitat of Striped Bass: A Speculative Hypothesis

摘要

Stocks of striped bass Morone saxatilis have declined in the Chesapeake Bay system over the last decade. The authors present evidence for the working hypothesis that the decline has resulted, in part, from loss of deep-water habitat for adults, caused by limiting concentrations of dissolved oxygen that are related, in turn, to nutrient enrichment and greater planktonic production. A related hypothesis is that changes in the near-shore habitat for juvenile striped bass, involving severe declines in submerged aquatic vegetation due to nutrient-driven planktonic shading, also have contributed to the decline of striped bass.