Historical Arctic Logbooks Provide Insights into Past Diets and Climatic Responses of Cod

PloS One
Bryony L TownhillJohn K Pinnegar

Abstract

Gadus morhua (Atlantic cod) stocks in the Barents Sea are currently at levels not seen since the 1950s. Causes for the population increase last century, and understanding of whether such large numbers will be maintained in the future, are unclear. To explore this, we digitised and interrogated historical cod catch and diet datasets from the Barents Sea. Seventeen years of catch data and 12 years of prey data spanning 1930-1959 cover unexplored spatial and temporal ranges, and importantly capture the end of a previous warm period, when temperatures were similar to those currently being experienced. This study aimed to evaluate cod catch per unit effort and prey frequency in relation to spatial, temporal and environmental variables. There was substantial spatio-temporal heterogeneity in catches through the time series. The highest catches were generally in the 1930s and 1940s, although at some localities more cod were recorded late in the 1950s. Generalized Additive Models showed that environmental, spatial and temporal variables are all valuable descriptors of cod catches, with the highest occurring from 15-45°E longitude and 73-77°N latitude, at bottom temperatures between 2 and 4°C and at depths between 150 and 250 m. Cod diet...Continue Reading

References

Oct 27, 2001·Science·R Sagarin, F Micheli
May 14, 2005·Science·Allison L PerryJohn D Reynolds
Nov 17, 2010·Journal of Fish Biology·K M Brander
Sep 20, 2011·Current Biology : CB·Stephen D SimpsonMartin J Genner
Dec 24, 2013·Current Biology : CB·Timothy H VinesDiana J Rennison
Jan 1, 2014·Global Change Biology·Georg H EngelhardJohn K Pinnegar
Feb 20, 2014·Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America·Olav Sigurd KjesbuJon Egil Skjæraasen

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Citations

Jan 14, 2016·Die Naturwissenschaften·Jørgen S ChristiansenRupert M Wienerroither

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Methods Mentioned

BETA
GAM

Software Mentioned

R
DAPSTOM
mgcv

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