Time-Varying Epipelagic Community Seascapes: Assessing and Predicting Species Composition in the Northeastern Pacific Ocean

摘要: The vast spatial extent of the ocean presents a major challenge for monitoring changes in marine biodiversity and connecting those to management practices. Remote-sensing offers promise overcoming this problem cost-effective, tractable way, but requires interdisciplinary expertise identify robust approaches. In study, we use generalize additive mixed models evaluate relationship between an epipelagic fish community Northeast Pacific Ocean oceanographic predictor variables, quantified in-situ as well via remote-sensing. We demonstrate utility using MODIS Rrs555 fields at monthly interannual timescales better understand how freshwater input into Northern California Current region affects higher trophic level biology. These relationships also allow us gradient composition characteristic warmer, offshore areas cooler, nearshore over period 2003-2012, predict characteristics outside sampled species data from 2013-2015. maps therefore represent new, temporally spatially explicit index differences, potentially useful filling gaps regional ecosystem status reports is germane broader ecosystem-based fisheries context.