Resolution of the Tetrabothrius jagerskioeldi Cryptic Species Complex among Holarctic Alcidae (Charadriiformes): Cestodes among Fraterculinae—Exploring Marine Diversity, Host Range, and Dynamic Oceanography in the Greater North Pacific

Impacts of climate change on methylmercury formation and bioaccumulation in the 21st century ocean

Broad-scale multi-species declines in populations of North American sea ducks for unknown reasons is cause for management concern. Oceanic regime shifts have been associated with rapid changes in ecosystem structure of the North Pacific and Bering Sea. However, relatively little is known about potential effects of these changes in oceanic conditions on marine bird populations at broad scales. I examined changes in North American breeding populations of sea ducks from 1957 to 2011 in relation to potential oceanic regime shifts in the North Pacific in 1977, 1989, and 1998. There was strong support for population-level effects of regime shifts in 1977 and 1989, but little support for an effect of the 1998 shift. The continental-level effects of these regime shifts differed across species groups and time. Based on patterns of sea duck population dynamics associated with regime shifts, it is unclear if the mechanism of change relates to survival or reproduction. Results of this analysis support the hypothesis that population size and trends of North American sea ducks are strongly influenced by oceanic conditions. The perceived population declines appear to have halted >20 years ago, and populations have been relatively stable or increasing since that time. Given these results, we should reasonably expect dramatic changes in sea duck population status and trends with future oceanic regime shifts.

Among marine mammals, gray and bowhead whales contain large amounts of fat and thereby constitute crucial dietary components of the traditional diet of indigenous peoples of the Eastern Arctic. Despite the high nutritional and cultural value of gray and bowhead whales, there is a risk of persistent organic pollutant (POP) intake by indigenous individuals who use marine mammals as their main source of fat. POPs are lipophilic pollutants and are known to accumulate and magnify along the marine food web. Consumption of foods contaminated by POPs can perturb the endocrine, reproductive, and immune systems, and can potentially cause cancer. Moderate to relatively high concentrations of POPs have indeed been reported in the edible tissues of gray and bowhead whales consumed by indigenous peoples of the North Pacific Ocean. Even though their consumption is potentially harmful, there is no regular monitoring of eco-toxicants in the foods consumed by the indigenous peoples of the Eastern Arctic. In our view, the routine analyses of consumable parts of whales and of comparable nutritional items need to be included in the Russian Arctic Biomonitoring Programme.

ABSTRACTUnderstanding the spatial distribution of marine biodiversity is essential for assessing evolutionary processes and informing conservation priorities. This study investigates global distribution patterns of marine reptiles and mammals—two clades with contrasting evolutionary histories. Marine reptiles, representing lineages with arrested diversification, have undergone extensive extinction events since the Mesozoic, while marine mammals are characterized by recent and rapid diversification, particularly during the Miocene. Using taxonomic distinctness (Δ+) and species richness across 15 oceanic regions, we evaluated whether observed distribution patterns deviate from null expectations derived from randomized assemblages. Our results reveal that marine mammals exhibit significantly non‐random, patterned distributions, with higher‐than‐expected taxonomic distinctness in the Arctic and North Pacific, indicating evolutionary radiation and lineage diversification in these regions. Conversely, marine reptiles generally conform to random expectations, with lower‐than‐expected Δ+ values in the Tropical Pacific and Indian Oceans—areas dominated by closely related sea snakes—suggesting phylogenetic clustering and historical lineage loss. These results support our initial hypothesis that diversification dynamics shape current species distributions. Specifically, rapidly diversifying groups lead to phylogenetic clustering (i.e., creating local assemblages of closely related species), while lineages with arrested diversification show overdispersed or clustered patterns. Importantly, we identify key conservation hotspots, highlighting the Indo‐Pacific for marine reptiles and the Arctic–North Pacific for marine mammals. These findings underscore the necessity of integrating taxonomic distinctness and species richness to guide the strategic expansion of Marine Protected Areas (MPAs). As ocean warming and anthropogenic pressures continue to reshape the distribution of marine species, understanding macroecological and phylogeographic patterns becomes vital for ensuring the efficient protection of marine biodiversity.

Marine Mammal<i>Brucella</i>Genotype Associated with Zoonotic Infection

Marine birds and mammals of the Pacific Subarctic Gyres

Occurrence and trophic magnification profile of triphenyltin compounds in marine mammals and their corresponding food webs

The North Pacific Pelagic Seabird Database (NPPSD) was created in 2005 to consolidate data on the oceanic distribution of marine bird species in the North Pacific. Most of these data were collected using at-sea strip-transect surveys within defined areas and at known locations. The NPPSD also contains observations of other bird species and marine mammals. The original NPPSD combined data from 465 surveys conducted between 1973 and 2002, primarily in waters adjacent to Alaska. These surveys included 61,195 sample transects with location, environment, and metadata information, and the data were organized in a flat-file format. In developing revising the NPPSD (2.0), our goals were to add new datasets, to make significant improvements to database functionality and to provide the database online. The NPPSD 2.0 included data from a broadened geographic range within the North Pacific, including new observations made offshore of the Russian Federation, Japan, Korea, British Columbia (Canada), Oregon, and California. These data were imported into a relational database, proofed, and structured in a common format. The NPPSD 2.0 contained 351,674 samples (transects) collected between 1973 and 2012, representing a total sampled area of 270,259 square kilometers, and extends the time series of samples in some areas-notably the Bering Sea-to four decades. It contained observations of 16,988,138 birds and 235,545 marine mammals. The third edition of the NPPSD database corrects several data duplication errors, updates the taxonomy to the current standard, and added additional data collected since 2012. The NPPSD 3.0 includes 460,2985 samples; a 30% increase in the number of transects. It contains observations of 20,098,635 birds and 365,227 marine mammals. This updated version of the NPPSD database and is available on the USGS Alaska Science Center NPPSD web site. Supplementary materials include an updated set of standardized taxonomic codes, reference maps that show the spatial and temporal distribution of the survey efforts and a downloadable query tool.

North Pacific Marine Mammals

ESR Endangered Species Research Contact the journal Facebook Twitter RSS Mailing List Subscribe to our mailing list via Mailchimp HomeLatest VolumeAbout the JournalEditorsSpecials ESR 16:113-133 (2012) - DOI: https://doi.org/10.3354/esr00393 Theme Section: Beyond marine mammal habitat modeling: applications for ecology and conservation Habitat-based spatial models of cetacean density in the eastern Pacific Ocean Karin A. Forney1,*, Megan C. Ferguson2,3, Elizabeth A. Becker1, Paul C. Fiedler3, Jessica V. Redfern3, Jay Barlow3, Ignacio L. Vilchis3, Lisa T. Ballance3 1Protected Resources Division, Southwest Fisheries Science Center, National Marine Fisheries Service, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Santa Cruz, California 95060, USA 2National Marine Mammal Laboratory, Alaska Fisheries Science Center, National Marine Fisheries Service, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Seattle, Washington 98115, USA 3Protected Resources Division, Southwest Fisheries Science Center, National Marine Fisheries Service, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, La Jolla, California 92037, USA *Email karin.forney@noaa.gov ABSTRACT: Many users of the marine environment (e.g. military, seismic researchers, fisheries) conduct activities that can potentially harm cetaceans. In the USA, Environmental Assessments or Environmental Impact Statements evaluating potential impacts are required, and these must include information on the expected number of cetaceans in specific areas where activities will occur. Typically, however, such information is only available for broad geographic regions, e.g. the entire West Coast of the United States. We present species−habitat models that estimate finer scale cetacean densities within the eastern Pacific Ocean. The models were developed and validated for 22 species or species groups, based on 15 large-scale shipboard cetacean and ecosystem assessment surveys conducted in the temperate and tropical eastern Pacific during the period from 1986 to 2006. Model development included consideration of different modeling frameworks, spatial and temporal resolutions of input variables, and spatial interpolation techniques. For the final models, expected group encounter rate and group size were modeled separately, using generalized additive models, as functions of environmental predictors, including bathymetry, distance to shore or isobaths, sea surface temperature (SST), variance in SST, salinity, chlorophyll, and mixed-layer depth. Model selection was performed using cross-validation on novel data. Smoothed maps of species density (and variance therein) were created from the final models for the California Current Ecosystem and eastern tropical Pacific Ocean. Model results were integrated into a web-interface that allows end-users to estimate densities for specified areas and provides fine-scale information for marine mammal assessments, monitoring, and mitigation. KEY WORDS: Cetacean · Habitat · Spatial density model · Distribution · Pacific Ocean · Generalized additive model Full text in pdf format PreviousNextCite this article as: Forney KA, Ferguson MC, Becker EA, Fiedler PC and others (2012) Habitat-based spatial models of cetacean density in the eastern Pacific Ocean. Endang Species Res 16:113-133. https://doi.org/10.3354/esr00393 Export citation Mail this link - Contents Mailing Lists - RSS Facebook - Tweet - linkedIn Cited by Published in ESR Vol. 16, No. 2. Online publication date: February 29, 2012 Print ISSN: 1863-5407; Online ISSN: 1613-4796 Copyright © 2012 Inter-Research.

The gorse pod moth Cydia succedana was released in New Zealand as a biological control agent against gorse Ulex europaeus L. in 1992 and is now widely established. Post-release evaluations of the host range of C. succedana were undertaken using both laboratory assays and field collections on native and exotic plants related to gorse. Field surveys did not detect any attack on native New Zealand plant species. However, contrary to predictions based on pre-release host-range testing, several species of exotic Genisteae, including Scotch broom Cytisus scoparius, Montpellier broom Teline (Genista) monspessulana, and tree lupin Lupinus arboreus, as well as lotus Lotus pedunculatus (Loteae) growing in the vicinity of infested U. europaeus plants, were shown to be hosts of C. succedana in both the North and South Islands of New Zealand. Hypotheses to explain this unexpected non-target attack include a seasonal asynchrony between C. succedana and gorse fl owering phenology, or that the original biocontrol introduction accidentally consisted of either two cryptic species or two populations with different physiological host range.

Influenza A(H1N1)pdm09 virus infection in marine mammals in California

Long-term changes in the fish community structure from the Tsushima warm current region of the Japan/East Sea with an emphasis on the impacts of fishing and climate regime shift over the last four decades

Pacific salmon (Oncorhynchus spp.) play an important role as a keystone species and provider of ecosystem services in the North Pacific ecosystem. We review our studies on recent production trends, marine carrying capacity, climate effects and biological interactions between wild and hatchery origin populations of Pacific salmon in the open sea, with a particular focus on Japanese chum salmon (O. keta). Salmon catch data indicates that the abundance of Pacific salmon increased since the 1976/77 ocean regime shift. Chum and pink salmon (O. gorbuscha) maintained high abundances with a sharp increase in hatchery-released populations since the late 1980s. Since the 1990s, the biomass contribution of hatchery returns to the total catch amounts to 50% for chum salmon, more than 10% for pink salmon, and less than 10% for sockeye salmon (O. nerka). We show evidence of density-dependence of growth and survival at sea and how it might vary across spatial scales, and we provide some new information on foraging plasticity that may offer new insight into competitive interactions. The marine carrying capacity of these three species is synchronized with long-term patterns in climate change. At the present time, global warming has positively affected growth and survival of Hokkaido populations of chum salmon. In the future, however, global warming may decrease the marine carrying capacity and the area of suitable habitat for chum salmon in the North Pacific Ocean. We outline future challenges for salmon sustainable conservation management in Japan, and recommend fishery management reform to sustain the hatchery-supported salmon fishery while conserving natural spawning populations.

Catches of 19 marine fish species from the eastern and western portions of the North Pacific Ocean during 1970–2004 were examined to determine whether there was synchrony in their responses to the generally accepted climate regime shifts that occurred during that period. Catches for these species represented approximately 55% of the total fish catch in the North Pacific in the 1990s. Five distinct groups were apparent in the data, and each group exhibited a different response to the climate regime shifts of 1977, 1989, and 1998. Some species appeared to have responded only to the regime shift in 1977, others responded only to the shift in 1989, and a few species responded to both. The trends in the time series of catches for these five groups were not random, and shifts in catch generally coincided with regime shifts as identified by the Pacific Decadal Oscillation and other indices of climate change. Although this study examined the relationship of fisheries to trends in climate, there is an obvious linkage to the population dynamics of a particular species. Understanding how climate affects these linkages may help improve our ability to reliably forecast population and fishery trends in the future.