Note to users. If you're seeing this message, it means that your browser cannot find this page's style/presentation instructions -- or possibly that you are using a browser that does not support current Web standards. Find out more about why this message is appearing, and what you can do to make your experience of our site the best it can be.

Site Tools

  • AAAS
  • Subscribe
  • Feedback

Site Search

Search Advanced

Science 23 July 2004:
Vol. 305. no. 5683, pp. 513 - 515
DOI: 10.1126/science.1099759
Prev | Table of Contents | Next

Reports

Shifts in Deep-Sea Community Structure Linked to Climate and Food Supply

Henry A. Ruhl* and Kenneth L. Smith, Jr.

A major change in the community structure of the dominant epibenthic megafauna was observed at 4100 meters depth in the northeast Pacific and was synchronous to a major El Niño/La Niña event that occurred between 1997 and 1999. Photographic abundance estimates of epibenthic megafauna from 1989 to 2002 show that two taxa decreased in abundance after 1998 by 2 to 3 orders of magnitude, whereas several other species increased in abundance by 1 to 2 orders of magnitude. These faunal changes are correlated to climate fluctuations dominated by El Niño/La Niña. Megafauna even in remote marine areas appear to be affected by contemporary climatic fluctuations. Such faunal changes highlight the importance of an adequate temporal perspective in describing biodiversity, ecology, and anthropogenic impacts in deep-sea communities.

Marine Biology Research Division, Scripps Institution of Oceanography, 9500 Gilman Drive, La Jolla, CA 92093–0202, USA.

* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: hruhl{at}ucsd.edu

Read the Full Text


THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES:
Long-term changes in deep-water fish populations in the northeast Atlantic: a deeper reaching effect of fisheries?.
D.M. Bailey, M.A. Collins, J.D.M. Gordon, A.F. Zuur, and I.G. Priede (2009)
Proc R Soc B 276, 1965-1969
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Connections between climate, food limitation, and carbon cycling in abyssal sediment communities.
H. A. Ruhl, J. A. Ellena, and K. L. Smith Jr. (2008)
PNAS 105, 17006-17011
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
In hot water: zooplankton and climate change.
A. J. Richardson (2008)
ICES J. Mar. Sci. 65, 279-295
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Trends in body size across an environmental gradient: A differential response in scavenging and non-scavenging demersal deep-sea fish.
M.A Collins, D.M Bailey, G.D Ruxton, and I.G Priede (2005)
Proc R Soc B 272, 2051-2057
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »


To Advertise     Find Products

Science. ISSN 0036-8075 (print), 1095-9203 (online)