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Originally published in Science Express on 28 July 2005
Science 26 August 2005:
Vol. 309. no. 5739, pp. 1365 - 1369
DOI: 10.1126/science.1113399
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Reports

Global Patterns of Predator Diversity in the Open Oceans

Boris Worm,1,2* Marcel Sandow,2 Andreas Oschlies,2,3 Heike K. Lotze,1,2 Ransom A. Myers1

The open oceans comprise most of the biosphere, yet patterns and trends of species diversity there are enigmatic. Here, we derive worldwide patterns of tuna and billfish diversity over the past 50 years, revealing distinct subtropical "hotspots" that appeared to hold generally for other predators and zooplankton. Diversity was positively correlated with thermal fronts and dissolved oxygen and a nonlinear function of temperature (~25°C optimum). Diversity declined between 10 and 50% in all oceans, a trend that coincided with increased fishing pressure, superimposed on strong El Niño–Southern Oscillation–driven variability across the Pacific. We conclude that predator diversity shows a predictable yet eroding pattern signaling ecosystem-wide changes linked to climate and fishing.

1 Biology Department, Dalhousie University, Halifax, NS, Canada B3H 4J1.
2 Leibniz Institute for Marine Science, Düsternbrooker Weg 20, 24105 Kiel, Germany.
3 National Oceanography Centre, Southampton, SO14 3ZH, UK.

* To whom correspondence should be addressed. Email: bworm{at}dal.ca

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