Spatial anatomy of species survival: effects of predation and climate-driven environmental variability.
The majority of survival analyses focus on temporal scales. Consequently, there is a limited understanding of how species survival varies over space and, ultimately, how spatial variability in the environment affects the temporal dynamics of species abundance. Using data from the Barents Sea, we study the spatiotemporal variability of the juvenile Atlantic cod (Gadus morhua) survival. We develop an index of spatial survival based on changes of juvenile cod distribution through their first winter of life (from age-0 to age-1) and study its variability in relation to biotic and abiotic factors. Over the 25 years analyzed (1980-2004), we found that, once the effect of passive drift due to dominant currents is accounted for, the area where age-0 cod survival was lowest coincided with the area of highest abundance of older cod. Within this critical region, the survival of age-0 cod was negatively affected by its own abundance, by that of older cod, and by bottom depth. Furthermore, during cold years, age-0 cod survival increased in the eastern and coldest portion of the examined area, which was typically avoided by older conspecifics. Based on these results we propose that within the examined area top-down mechanisms and predation-driven density dependence can strongly affect the spatial pattern of age-0 cod survival. Climate-related variables can also influence the spatial survival of age-0 cod by affecting their distribution and that of their predators. Results from these and similar studies, focusing on the spatial variability of survival rates, can be used to characterize species habitat quality of marine renewable resources.
Ciannelli
Lorenzo
L
Centre for Ecological and Evolutionary Synthesis (CEES), Department of Biology, P.O. Box 1066, University of Oslo, Oslo N-0316, Norway. lorenzo.ciannelli@bio.uio.no
Dingsør
Gjert E
GE
Bogstad
Bjarte
B
Ottersen
Geir
G
Chan
Kung-sik
KS
Gjøsaeter
Harald
H
Stiansen
Jan Erik
JE
Stenseth
Nils Chr
NC
D000367:Age Factors; D000818:Animals; D001267:Atlantic Ocean; D003710:Demography; D004777:Environment; D005398:Fisheries / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D048389:Gadus morhua / Q000254:growth & development / Q000502:physiology*; D009664:Norway; D011156:Population Density; D011157:Population Dynamics; D016019:Survival Analysis; D013696:Temperature