Upwelling-driven nearshore hypoxia signals ecosystem and oceanographic changes in the northeast Pacific
Abstract
Seasonal development of dissolved-oxygen deficits (hypoxia) represents an acute system-level perturbation to ecological dynamics and fishery sustainability in coastal ecosystems around the globe. Whereas anthropogenic nutrient loading has increased the frequency and severity of hypoxia in estuaries and semi-enclosed seas, the occurrence of hypoxia in open-coast upwelling systems reflects ocean conditions that control the delivery of oxygen-poor and nutrient-rich deep water onto continental shelves. Upwelling systems support a large proportion of the world's fisheries, therefore understanding the links between changes in ocean climate, upwelling-driven hypoxia and ecological perturbations is critical. Here we report on the unprecedented development of severe inner-shelf (<70 m) hypoxia and resultant mass die-offs of fish and invertebrates within the California Current System. In 2002, cross-shelf transects revealed the development of abnormally low dissolved-oxygen levels as a response to anomalously strong flow of subarctic water into the California Current System. Our findings highlight the sensitivity of inner-shelf ecosystems to variation in ocean conditions, and the potential impacts of climate change on marine communities.
Integrity signals
Registry
Cites
Statistics
Claims the paper makes
Claims other papers make about this one
Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?
In the northern California Current, hydrographic observations have revealed a recent increase in the frequency and severity of hypoxic events, and even occasional water column anoxia, on the inner continental shelf.
“In the northern California Current, hydrographic observations have revealed a recent increase in the frequency and severity of hypoxic events, and even occasional water column anoxia, on the inner continental shelf [61,62].”
From Anticipated Effects of Climate Change on Coastal Upwelling Ecosystems (2015) · cites this paper as [61]
Increasing occurrences of hypoxia are expected due to enhanced coastal productivity and subsequent increases in respiration, combined with generally lower levels of dissolved oxygen at depth on the inner continental shelf.
“Increasing occurrences of hypoxia are expected due to enhanced coastal productivity and subsequent increases in respiration, combined with generally lower levels of dissolved oxygen at depth on the inner continental shelf [61,62].”
From Anticipated Effects of Climate Change on Coastal Upwelling Ecosystems (2015) · cites this paper as [61]
The biological impacts of these hypoxic events can be catastrophic, with widespread mortality of macroscopic benthic organisms, resulting in periodic dead zones such as those observed on the Oregon continental shelf.
“The biological impacts of these events can be catastrophic, with widespread mortality of macroscopic benthic organisms, resulting in periodic dead zones such as those observed on the Oregon continental shelf [61].”
From Anticipated Effects of Climate Change on Coastal Upwelling Ecosystems (2015) · cites this paper as [61]
Cited by
Sorted by citations
Climate change impacts on marine ecosystems
Doney, S. C., Ruckelshaus, M., Emmett Duffy, J., Barry, J. P., Chan, F., English, C. A., Galindo, H. M., Grebmeier, J. M., Hollowed, A. B., Knowlton, N., et al. (2012) · Annual Review of Marine Science · doi:10.1146/annurev-marine-041911-111611 · Cited by 3,014 · see citing works
Self-citationOcean Deoxygenation in a Warming World
Keeling, R. F., Körtzinger, A., & Gruber, N. (2010) · Annual Review of Marine Science · doi:10.1146/annurev.marine.010908.163855 · Cited by 1,712 · see citing works
Denitrification across landscapes and waterscapes: a synthesis
Seitzinger, S., Harrison, J. A., Böhlke, J. K., Bouwman, A. F., Lowrance, R., Peterson, B., Tobias, C., & Drecht, G. V. (2006) · Ecological Applications · doi:10.1890/1051-0761(2006)016[2064:dalawa]2.0.co;2 · Cited by 1,679 · see citing works
Howarth, R., Chan, F., Conley, D. J., Garnier, J., Doney, S. C., Marino, R., & Billen, G. (2011) · Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment · doi:10.1890/100008 · Cited by 866 · see citing works
Self-citationAnticipated Effects of Climate Change on Coastal Upwelling Ecosystems
Bakun, A., Black, B. A., Bograd, S. J., García-Reyes, M., Miller, A. J., Rykaczewski, R. R., & Sydeman, W. J. (2015) · Current Climate Change Reports · doi:10.1007/s40641-015-0008-4 · Cited by 470 · see citing works
Intensification and spatial homogenization of coastal upwelling under climate change
Wang, D., Gouhier, T. C., Menge, B. A., & Ganguly, A. R. (2015) · Nature · doi:10.1038/nature14235 · Cited by 447 · see citing works
Self-citationGobler, C. J., DePasquale, E. L., Griffith, A. W., & Baumann, H. (2014) · PLoS ONE · doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0083648 · Cited by 260 · see citing works
Sauer, W. H. H., Gleadall, I. G., Downey-Breedt, N., Doubleday, Z., Gillespie, G., Haimovici, M., Ibáñez, C. M., Katugin, O. N., Leporati, S., Lipinski, M. R., et al. (2021) · Reviews in Fisheries Science & Aquaculture · doi:10.1080/23308249.2019.1680603 · Cited by 177 · see citing works
- Authors
- Grantham, B. A., Chan, F., Nielsen, K. J., Fox, D. S., Barth, J. A., Huyer, A., Lubchenco, J., & Menge, B. A.
- Affiliations
- Washington State Department of Ecology (US)
- Oregon State University (US)
- Sonoma State University (US)
- Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife (US)
- Corresponding author
- Chan, Francis
- Venue
- Nature
- Published
- 2004-06
- Volume
- 429
- Issue
- 6993
- Pages
- 749-754
- ISSN
- 0028-0836 (ISSN-L)
- 1476-4687
- OpenAlex
- W2025812544
- Cited by
- 587
- References
- 0
- Citations by year
- 2026: 18 · 2025: 23 · 2024: 31 · 2023: 41 · 2022: 30 · 2021: 29 · 2020: 29 · 2019: 26 · 2018: 29 · 2017: 34 · 2016: 18 · 2015: 25 · 2014: 27 · 2013: 34 · 2012: 31
- FWCI
- 12.34
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Licence
- www.springer.com/tdm (tdm)
- Locations
- Nature (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- RePEc: Research Papers in Economics (submittedVersion)
- Funders
- National Science Foundation
- Natural Environment Research Council
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Earth and Planetary Sciences › Oceanography › Marine and coastal ecosystems
- Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Global and Planetary Change › Marine and fisheries research
- Physical Sciences › Earth and Planetary Sciences › Oceanography › Oceanographic and Atmospheric Processes
- Keywords
- coastal upwelling, California Current System, dissolved oxygen deficit, ocean climate variability, continental shelf ecosystems
- MeSH terms
- Animals, California, Climate, Fisheries, Fishes, Invertebrates, Oceanography, Oregon, Oxygen, Pacific Ocean, Population Dynamics, Seasons, Seawater, Time Factors, Water Movements, Ecosystem
About these checks
Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.
Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.
Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.
What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›
Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review
