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125928 - Transhemispheric ecosystem disservices of pink salmon in a Pacific Ocean macrosystem.pdf (841.98 kB)

Transhemispheric ecosystem disservices of pink salmon in a Pacific Ocean macrosystem

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journal contribution
posted on 2023-05-19, 18:03 authored by Springer, AM, van Vliet, GB, Bool, N, Crowley, M, Fullagar, P, Mary-Anne LeaMary-Anne Lea, Monash, R, Cassandra PriceCassandra Price, Vertigan, C, Woehler, EJ
Pink salmon (Oncorhynchus gorbuscha) in the North Pacific Ocean have flourished since the 1970s, with growth in wild populations augmented by rising hatchery production. As their abundance has grown, so too has evidence that they are having important effects on other species and on ocean ecosystems. In alternating years of high abundance, they can initiate pelagic trophic cascades in the northern North Pacific Ocean and Bering Sea and depress the availability of common prey resources of other species of salmon, resident seabirds, and other pelagic species. We now propose that the geographic scale of ecosystem disservices of pink salmon is far greater due to a 15,000-kilometer transhemispheric teleconnection in a Pacific Ocean macrosystem maintained by short-tailed shearwaters (Ardenna tenuirostris), seabirds that migrate annually between their nesting grounds in the South Pacific Ocean and wintering grounds in the North Pacific Ocean. Over this century, the frequency and magnitude of mass mortalities of shearwaters as they arrive in Australia, and their abundance and productivity, have been related to the abundance of pink salmon. This has influenced human social, economic, and cultural traditions there, and has the potential to alter the role shearwaters play in insular terrestrial ecology. We can view the unique biennial pulses of pink salmon as a large, replicated, natural experiment that offers basin-scale opportunities to better learn how these ecosystems function. By exploring trophic interaction chains driven by pink salmon, we may achieve a deeper conservation conscientiousness for these northern open oceans.

Funding

Birdlife Australia

History

Publication title

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of The United States of America

Volume

115

Issue

22

Pagination

E5038-E5045

ISSN

0027-8424

Department/School

Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies

Publisher

Natl Acad Sciences

Place of publication

2101 Constitution Ave Nw, Washington, USA, Dc, 20418

Rights statement

Copyright the Authors 2018. Licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0) http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/

Repository Status

  • Open

Socio-economic Objectives

Assessment and management of Antarctic and Southern Ocean ecosystems