Collaborative Research: BEST Synthesis: The variable transport of pollock eggs and larvae over the Bering shelf - A marriage of physics and biology

最近的白令海生态系统研究计划(BEST)及其合作伙伴白令海综合生态系统研究计划(BSIERP)使人们更好地了解了温度和层化在调节大眼鳕鱼种群中的作用，但平流的作用仍然知之甚少。因此，为阐明海洋？S对大气强迫变化的响应如何影响东白令海陆架上狭鳕的卵和仔鱼的分布提供了资金。该方法建立在BEST-BSIERP程序下取得的进展的基础上，将利用新的模拟结果和最近的观察结果相结合来检查鳕鱼卵和仔鱼的历史传播路径，并将模拟这些路径在不同情况下未来可能发生的变化。先行，即通过流体运动的物质或财产的运输，在许多鱼类种群的生命周期中发挥着重要作用，因为早期生活史阶段依赖于从产卵区到合适的育苗场的准被动运输。卵和幼虫的漂移轨迹以及它们在产卵后头几个月遇到的物理和生物条件是高度可变的，与区域和大范围的气候条件有关。因此，大气和海洋的多变性影响到早期生命阶段的生存和由此产生的白令大陆架东部大眼鳕鱼种群的年级强度。该项目的结果将提高我们对大眼鳕鱼物理和生物过程相互作用的了解，从而导致对这一重要渔业的更好管理。

The recent Bering Sea Ecosystem Study (BEST) program and its partner the Bering Sea Integrated Ecosystem Research Program (BSIERP) have resulted in a better understanding of the roles of temperature and stratification in regulating the walleye pollock population, but the role of advection remains poorly understood. Therefore, funds are provided to elucidate how the ocean?s response to variable atmospheric forcing affects the distribution of walleye pollock (Theragra chalcogramma) eggs and larvae on the eastern Bering Sea shelf. The proposed approach builds on advances made under the BEST-BSIERP program and will use a combination of new modeling results and recent observations to examine historical dispersal pathways of pollock eggs and larvae and will simulate how these might change in the future under various scenarios.Advection, the transport of material or a property by the movement of a fluid, plays a major role in the life cycle of many fish populations because early life history stages depend on quasi-passive transport from spawning areas to suitable nursery grounds. Drift trajectories of eggs and larvae and the physical and biological conditions they encounter during the first few months after spawning are highly variable and are linked to regional and broad-scale climate conditions. Thus atmospheric and oceanographic variability affects the survival of early life stages and the resulting year class strength of fish populations, such as walleye Pollock, on the eastern Bering shelf. The results of this project will improve our understanding of the interactions of physical and biological processes on walleye Pollock and, consequently, lead to better management of this important fishery.