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Apex marine predator declines ninety percent in association with changing oceanic climate
Abstract
Three time series of pelagic bird abundance collected in disparate portions of the California Current reveal a 90% decline in Sooty Shearwater (Puffinus griseus) abundance between 1987 and 1994. This decline is negatively correlated with a concurrent rise in sea‐surface temperatures; Sooty Shearwaters have declined while sea temperatures have risen. There is a nine‐month lag in the response by shearwaters to changing temperatures. The geographical scale of our study demonstrates that the decline of Sooty Shearwaters is not a localized phenomenon, nor can it be ascribed to a short‐term distributional shift. The Sooty Shearwater is the numerically dominant species of the California Current System (CCS) in summer (austral winter), with an estimated population in the late 1970s of 5 million individuals. If the observed warming of the waters of the California Current System is an irreversible manifestation of a changing global climate, then the impact upon Sooty Shearwater populations seems likely to be profound.
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“More recently, ocean warming associated with climate change has precipitated bottom-up trophic cascades, analogous to those proposed here for terrestrial systems, which have restructured both benthic and pelagic food webs and driven declines in shearwaters and auklets (112–114).”
From Climate-driven declines in arthropod abundance restructure a rainforest food web (2018) · cites this paper as [112]
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Biological consequences of global warming: is the signal already apparent?
Hughes, L. (2000) · Trends in Ecology & Evolution · doi:10.1016/s0169-5347(99)01764-4 · Cited by 2,220
Biological response to climate change on a tropical mountain
Pounds, J. A., Fogden, M. P. L., & Campbell, J. H. (1999) · Nature · doi:10.1038/19297 · Cited by 1,429
Ecological Consequences of Recent Climate Change
McCarty, J. P. (2001) · Conservation Biology · doi:10.1046/j.1523-1739.2001.015002320.x · Cited by 1,117
“The abundance of Sooty Shearwaters ( Puffinus griseus ) declined by 90% off western North America between 1987 and 1994 (Veit et al. 1996, 1997), associated with a rapid warming of the California current.”
BackgroundClimate-driven declines in arthropod abundance restructure a rainforest food web
Lister, B. C., & Garcia, A. (2018) · Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences · doi:10.1073/pnas.1722477115 · Cited by 730
Climate-Ocean Variability and Ecosystem Response in the Northeast Pacific
McGowan, J. A., Cayan, D. R., & Dorman, L. M. (1998) · Science · doi:10.1126/science.281.5374.210 · Cited by 649
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Metadata
- Authors
- VEIT, R., MCGOWAN, J., AINLEY, D., WAHL, T., & PYLE, P.
- Affiliations
- University of Washington (US)
- Scripps Institution of Oceanography (US)
- H.T. Harvey & Associates (US)
- Point Blue Conservation Science (US)
- Corresponding author
- VEIT, RICHARD
- Venue
- Global Change Biology
- Publisher
- Wiley
- Published
- 1997-02
- Volume
- 3
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 23-28
- ISSN
- 1354-1013 (ISSN-L)
- 1365-2486
- OpenAlex
- W2123890019
- Cited by
- 174
- References
- 0
- Citations by year
- 2025: 3 · 2024: 3 · 2023: 6 · 2022: 1 · 2021: 1 · 2020: 5 · 2019: 3 · 2018: 4 · 2017: 5 · 2016: 2 · 2015: 5 · 2014: 8 · 2013: 4 · 2012: 8
- FWCI
- 7.54
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Global Change Biology (publishedVersion)
- Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel (GEOMAR) (acceptedVersion)
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Ecology › Marine animal studies overview
- Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Ecology › Avian ecology and behavior
- Life Sciences › Agricultural and Biological Sciences › Aquatic Science › Marine and fisheries research
- Keywords
- sooty shearwater, Puffinus griseus, population decline (ecology), sea surface temperature, ocean warming, California Current System, pelagic seabirds, climate change, population time series
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