Collaborative Research: Adaptable life history strategy of a migratory large predator in response to El Nino and climate change

该项目将研究大乌贼(洪堡乌贼)对2009-2010年厄尔尼诺事件的反应，该事件伴随着加利福尼亚州海湾瓜伊马斯盆地这种乌贼商业渔业的崩溃。这种大型鱿鱼是加利福尼亚州海湾、加利福尼亚州海流和秘鲁海流系统中具有重要生态和经济意义的主要捕食者。2010年初，这些鱿鱼放弃了它们在瓜伊马斯盆地的正常沿海大陆架栖息地，转而在北部的Salsipuedes盆地被发现，该地区因较冷的海水上涌而免受厄尔尼诺的影响。商业渔业也转移到了这一地区，2010-2012年在瓜伊马斯盆地没有发现大型鱿鱼，相反，以异常小的体型和年轻的年龄成熟的动物很多。尽管明显恢复了正常的海洋条件，但仍未恢复到成熟时的大尺寸状态。2009-2010年的厄尔尼诺现象提供了一个意想不到的机会，揭示了大金枪鱼适应剧烈气候异常的一个重要特征，即体型和成熟年龄大幅下降。现在，这些调查人员将有机会记录恢复到正常的大型到期条件。该项目的具体目标是：1)继续实施已在加利福尼亚州海湾建立的鱿鱼声学调查和直接采样计划，以评估与厄尔尼诺现象之前条件有关的分布、生物量、生活史策略、饮食以及迁徙和觅食行为；2)在加利福尼亚州蒙特利湾进行类似调查，并结合长期的遥控车辆调查鱿鱼丰度。这些研究的数据将提供两种不同鱿鱼种群恢复情况的比较，并提供有价值的见解，以了解一个地区受到小型或大型洪堡鱿鱼入侵预计会经历什么生态影响。随着长期气候变化的进展，这两种形式的鱿鱼可能会向北扩展到加州现行系统。将为参与的研究生和本科生提供培训，并将继续与墨西哥的一所技术学院建立合作关系，让墨西哥本科生参与当地的采样和针对当地鱿鱼捕鱼社区的公共宣传。鱿鱼丰度(生物量)和觅食(饮食)数据将被纳入NOAA正在为洪堡鱿鱼开发的渔业管理模型中。该项目关于厄尔尼诺现象、气候变化和鱿鱼渔业的研究结果将被纳入与NOAA(Squids4Kids)建立的外联计划、Google Science Fair Science Hangout计划以及位于霍普金斯海洋站约翰·斯坦贝克的NEH夏季研究所。调查人员将继续贡献蒙特利湾水族馆和哈特菲尔德海洋科学中心正在开发的关于鱿鱼的展品。

This project will examine the response of Dosidicus gigas (Humboldt squid) to an El Niño event in 2009-2010 that was accompanied by a collapse of the commercial fishery for this squid in the Guaymas Basin within the Gulf of California. This large squid is a major predator of great ecological and economic importance in the Gulf of California, the California Current, and Peru Current systems. In early 2010, these squid abandoned their normal coastal-shelf habitats in the Guaymas Basin and instead were found in the Salsipuedes Basin to the north, an area buffered from the effects of El Niño by the upwelling of colder water. The commercial fishery also relocated to this region and large squid were not found in the Guaymas Basin from 2010-2012, instead animals that matured at an unusually small size and young age were abundant. A return to the large size-at-maturity condition has still not occurred, despite the apparent return of normal oceanographic conditions. The El Niño of 2009-2010 presented an unforeseen opportunity to reveal an important feature of adaptability of Dosidicus gigas to an acute climatic anomaly, namely a large decrease in size and age at maturity. Now these investigators will have the opportunity to document recovery to the normal large size-at-maturity condition. The specific aims of this project are: 1) continue a program of acoustic surveys and direct sampling of squid that has already been established in the Gulf of California in order to assess distribution, biomass, life history strategy diet, and migratory and foraging behaviors relative to pre-El Niño conditions and 2) conduct analogous surveys in Monterey Bay, California in conjunction with long-term remote operated vehicle surveys of squid abundance. The data from these studies will provide a comparison of recovery in the two different squid populations and yield valuable insights into what ecological effects an area is expected to experience with an invasion of either small or large Humboldt squid. As long-term climate change progresses, squid of both forms may expand northward into the California Current System.Training will be provided for participating graduate and undergraduate students and an established collaboration will be continued with a technical college in Mexico that involves Mexican undergraduates in local sampling and developing public outreach aimed at the local squid fishing community. Squid abundance (biomass) and foraging (diet) data will be incorporated into NOAA fishery-management models being developed for Humboldt squid. Findings of the project concerning El Niño, climate change, and squid fisheries will be incorporated into an established outreach program with NOAA (Squids4Kids), the Google Science Fair Science Hangouts program, and a NEH Summer Institute on John Steinbeck at Hopkins Marine Station. The investigators will continue to contribute exhibits being developed on squid at both the Monterey Bay Aquarium and Hatfield Marine Science Center.