Authors
Andrew W Trites, Arthur J Miller, Herbert DG Maschner, Michael A Alexander, Steven J Bograd, John A Calder, Antonietta Capotondi, Kenneth O Coyle, Emanuele Di Lorenzo, Bruce P Finney, Edward J Gregr, Chester E Grosch, Steven R Hare, George L Hunt Jr, Jaime Jahncke, Nancy B Kachel, HEY‐JIN KIM, Carol Ladd, Nathan J Mantua, Caren Marzban, Wieslaw Maslowski, ROY Mendelssohn, Douglas J Neilson, Stephen R Okkonen, James E Overland, KATHERINE L REEDY‐MASCHNER, Thomas C Royer, Franklin B Schwing, Julian XL Wang, Arliss J Winship
Publication date
2007/1
Journal
Fisheries Oceanography
Volume
16
Issue
1
Pages
46-67
Publisher
Blackwell Publishing Ltd
Description
Declines of Steller sea lion (Eumetopias jubatus) populations in the Aleutian Islands and Gulf of Alaska could be a consequence of physical oceanographic changes associated with the 1976–77 climate regime shift. Changes in ocean climate are hypothesized to have affected the quantity, quality, and accessibility of prey, which in turn may have affected the rates of birth and death of sea lions. Recent studies of the spatial and temporal variations in the ocean climate system of the North Pacific support this hypothesis. Ocean climate changes appear to have created adaptive opportunities for various species that are preyed upon by Steller sea lions at mid‐trophic levels. The east–west asymmetry of the oceanic response to climate forcing after 1976–77 is consistent with both the temporal aspect (populations decreased after the late 1970s) and the spatial aspect of the decline (western, but not eastern, sea lion …
Total citations
Scholar articles
AW Trites, AJ Miller, HDG Maschner, MA Alexander… - Fisheries Oceanography, 2007