A high-quality reference genome of the kelp surfperch, Brachyistius frenatus (Embiotocidae), a wide-ranging Eastern Pacific reef fish with no pelagic larval stage.

The surfperches (family Embiotocidae) are a unique group of mostly marine fishes whose phylogenetic position within the Ovalentaria clade (Percomorpha) is still unresolved. As a result of their viviparity and lack of a dispersive larval stage, surfperches are an excellent model for the study of speciation, gene flow, and local adaptation in the ocean. They are also the target of an immensely popular recreational fishery.

Upwelling-level acidification and pH/pCO variability moderate effects of ocean acidification on brain gene expression in the temperate surfperch, Embiotoca jacksoni.

Acidification-induced changes in neurological function have been documented in several tropical marine fishes. Here, we investigate whether similar patterns of neurological impacts are observed in a temperate Pacific fish that naturally experiences regular and often large shifts in environmental pH/pCO . In two laboratory experiments, we tested the effect of acidification, as well as pH/pCO variability, on gene expression in the brain tissue of a common temperate kelp forest/estuarine fish, Embiotoca jacksoni.

Reference Genome of the Black Surfperch, Embiotoca jacksoni (Embiotocidae, Perciformes), a California Kelp Forest Fish That Lacks a Pelagic Larval Stage.

Surfperches (Family Embiotocidae) are viviparous temperate reef fishes that brood their young. This life history trait translates into limited dispersal, strong population structure, and an unusually strong potential for local adaptation in a marine fish. As part of the California Conservation Genomics Project (CCGP), we sequenced the genome of the Black Surfperch, Embiotoca jacksoni, to establish a genomic model for understanding phylogeographic patterns of marine organisms in California.

Emergent effects of global change on consumption depend on consumers and their resources in marine systems.

A better understanding of how environmental change will affect species interactions would significantly aid efforts to scale up predictions of near-future responses to global change from individuals to ecosystems. To address this need, we used meta-analysis to quantify the individual and combined effects of ocean acidification (OA) and warming on consumption rates of predators and herbivores in marine ecosystems. Although the primary studies demonstrated that these environmental variables can have direct effects on consumers, our analyses highlight high variability in consumption rates in response to OA and warming.

Ecological change in dynamic environments: Accounting for temporal environmental variability in studies of ocean change biology.

The environmental conditions in the ocean have long been considered relatively more stable through time compared to the conditions on land. Advances in sensing technologies, however, are increasingly revealing substantial fluctuations in abiotic factors over ecologically and evolutionarily relevant timescales in the ocean, leading to a growing recognition of the dynamism of the marine environment as well as new questions about how this dynamism may influence species' vulnerability to global environmental change. In some instances, the diurnal or seasonal variability in major environmental change drivers, such as temperature, pH and seawater carbonate chemistry, and dissolved oxygen, can exceed the changes expected with continued anthropogenic global change.