Larval rockfish growth and survival in response to anomalous ocean conditions.

Understanding how future ocean conditions will affect populations of marine species is integral to predicting how climate change will impact both ecosystem function and fisheries management. Fish population dynamics are driven by variable survival of the early life stages, which are highly sensitive to environmental conditions. As global warming generates extreme ocean conditions (i.

Presence of microplastics and microparticles in Oregon Black Rockfish sampled near marine reserve areas.

Measuring the spatial distribution of microparticles which include synthetic, semi-synthetic, and anthropogenic particles is critical to understanding their potential negative impacts on species. This is particularly important in the context of microplastics, which are a form of microparticle that are prevalent in the marine environment. To facilitate a better understanding of microparticle occurrence, including microplastics, we sampled subadult and young juvenile Black Rockfish () at multiple Oregon coast sites, and their gastrointestinal tracts were analyzed to identify ingested microparticles.

An anchovy ecosystem indicator of marine predator foraging and reproduction.

Forage fishes are key energy conduits that transfer primary and secondary productivity to higher trophic levels. As novel environmental conditions caused by climate change alter ecosystems and predator-prey dynamics, there is a critical need to understand how forage fish control bottom-up forcing of food web dynamics. In the northeast Pacific, northern anchovy () is an important forage species with high interannual variability in population size that subsequently impacts the foraging and reproductive ecology of marine predators.

Species-Specific Responses of Juvenile Rockfish to Elevated pCO2: From Behavior to Genomics.

In the California Current ecosystem, global climate change is predicted to trigger large-scale changes in ocean chemistry within this century. Ocean acidification-which occurs when increased levels of atmospheric CO2 dissolve into the ocean-is one of the biggest potential threats to marine life. In a coastal upwelling system, we compared the effects of chronic exposure to low pH (elevated pCO2) at four treatment levels (i.

Interactions of marine mammals and birds with offshore membrane enclosures for growing algae (OMEGA).

Background: OMEGA is an integrated aquatic system to produce biofuels, treat and recycle wastewater, capture CO2, and expand aquaculture production. This system includes floating photobioreactors (PBRs) that will cover hundreds of hectares in marine bays. To assess the interactions of marine mammals and birds with PBRs, 9 × 1.