Top predators may integrate fluctuations in lower
trophic levels and ocean climate, and may therefore serve as reliable
indicators of change. But, how ubiquitous are these patterns, spatially
and temporally? What are the time lags between the occurrence of
an environmental change and the responses of top predators? What
taxa, guilds and parameters would be best suited to serve as ecosystem
"samplers" and "monitors?" This multi-disciplinary, multi-trophic
level topic session will examine the oceanographic and ecological
factors determining the distribution, foraging ecology, and life
history dynamics of top marine predators in the northwestern North
Pacific and its marginal seas, focusing on the Sea of Okhotsk/Oyashio
and western Bering Sea. Focal organisms include predatory marine
fish, marine birds and mammals, and their prey resources (copopeds,
euphausiids, squids, forage fishes). We invite presentations describing
spatio-temporal variation in distribution, abundance, life history,
demography, and food habits of predators and/or prey species or
communities in relation to atmospheric and physical oceanographic
variability, including ice cover. In particular, we hope to deepen
our understanding of the response of top predators to ocean climate
variability and change in the northwestern Pacific Ocean regions.
These questions are critical to future efforts to monitor the North
Pacific, as well as important to fisheries oceanography in the Sea
of Okhotsk and western Bering Sea.
Publications
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