USA (West-Coast) - Ecology

Species in the CCLME have developed specific strategies to maximize their success in this dynamic environment. For example, rockfish (Sebastes spp.) are long-lived and late maturing, a strategy that takes advantage of periodic recruitment opportunities related to annual climatic variability. Metapopulations of anadromous salmon— for example, coho (Oncorhynchus kisutch) and Chinook salmon (O. tshawytscha)— take advantage of spatially and temporally variable freshwater and ocean conditions. The low-frequency variability of pelagic forage fish such as anchovy (Engraulis mordax), sardine (Sardinops sagax), and mackerel (Scomber japonicus), as well as crustacean species like Dungeness crab (Cancer magister) and pandalid shrimp (Pandalus spp.), relate to both biological interactions and climate regime shifts of the system. Other species such as Pacific hake (Merluccius productus), sardines, albacore (Thunnus alalunga), sooty shearwaters (Puffinus griseus), and a variety of marine mammals typically migrate south through the system in the fall into warmer waters to reproduce and travel north in the spring to colder waters to feed. This influx in predation significantly impacts prey biomass and ecosystem dynamics.