Abstract
The East Asian marginal seas are among the most productive fisheries grounds. However, in recent decades they experienced massive proliferations of jellyfish that pose vast challenges for the management of harvested fish stocks. In the Korean Peninsula, the common bloom-formers Scyphozoan species Aurelia coerulea and Nemopilema nomurai are of major concern due to their detrimental effects on coastal socio-ecological systems. Here, we used pluriannual field observations spanning over 14 years to test the extent of climate influence on the interannual variability and bloom dynamics of A. coerulea and N. nomurai. To depict climate-jellyfish interactions we assessed partitioning effects, direct/indirect links, and the relative importance of hydroclimate forces on the variability of these species. We show that jellyfish interannual patterns and bloom dynamics are shaped by forces playing out at disparate scales. While abundance changes and earlier blooms of A. coerulea were driven by local environmental conditions, N. nomurai interannual patterns and bloom dynamics were linked with regional climate processes. Our results provide a synoptic picture of cascading effects from large scale climate to jellyfish dynamics in the Korean Peninsula that may affect fisheries sustainability due to the prominent detrimental impact these species have in the region.
Highlights
In the marine realm, the physical environment, energy pathways, and biogeochemical fluxes are shaped by the climate influence on water column structure and nutrient dynamics, which heavily impact plankton communities [1]
The East Asian marginal seas are exposed to the influence of hemispheric-wide climate phenomena, i.e., Pacific Decadal Oscillation (PDO), El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO), and East Asia winter monsoon (EAWM)
Hydroclimate patterns in the Korean Peninsula are mainly dominated by two atmospheric pressure systems, the Siberian high and the Aleutian low, e.g., high of Siberian in winter and high of Aleutian in summer [27], while interannual and decadal scales weather patterns are further influenced by the PDO, ENSO, and EAWM [28]
Summary
The physical environment, energy pathways, and biogeochemical fluxes are shaped by the climate influence on water column structure and nutrient dynamics, which heavily impact plankton communities [1]. Projected scenarios of global change, forewarn the potential impact climate changes (i.e., warming) may have on marine ecosystem assets and services of this region [7,8,9] Triggered by such changes, conspicuous jellyfish proliferations have been observed in the area, posing challenges for the management of harvested fish stocks. The population centre of N. nomurai is located in the northwest Yellow and East China seas, from which medusae stages are transported by the Korea/Tsushima Strait (i.e., a branch of the Kuroshio Current) dispersing individuals toward northern and eastern Korean waters and Japan Sea [20,21,22,23,24] Proliferations of this species have long been recorded, their intensity and recurrence have increased in the last two decades severely affecting local fisheries [5,25,26]. We used pluriannual field observations spanning over the period 2006–2019 to assess underlying forces driving bloom dynamics of A. coerulea and N. nomurai, and to quantify partitioning effects, direct/indirect links, and the relative importance of hydroclimate forces on the interannual patterns of these species
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