Temporal synchrony among juvenile marine fishes and potential climate and environmental drivers in the Bay of Biscay

The existence of synchronous fluctuations among sympatric species is an important property of a community, potentially reducing temporal stability of ecosystem services. Yet, community synchrony and its potential drivers has rarely been studied in marine ecosystems. Here, we analyzed a 14-year time-series (2007-2020) of fish abundance data collected by a scientific beam trawl survey in the Bay of Biscay, a temperate marine ecosystem located in the North-east Atlantic. We used dynamic factor analysis to reveal common trends in abundance among juvenile demersal marine fishes, and to identify potential environmental drivers. Our results revealed synchronous changes in juvenile fish abundance among the 12 marine species examined in the study. This strong temporal coherence was likely related to the influence of climate and environmental factors, notably sea bottom temperature and the East Atlantic Pattern. We also found some support for alternative drivers of early-life fish dynamics, namely the North Atlantic Oscillation and sea surface chlorophyll-a concentration, the later suggesting bottom-up trophic control. In the context of ongoing environmental changes, our findings raise questions about the future stability of the demersal marine fish community in the Bay of Biscay.

Keyword(s)

Interspecific synchrony, Time-series analysis, Demersal fish, Early-life history, Climate forcing, Bay of Biscay

Full Text

FilePagesSizeAccess
Author's final draft
37763 Ko
Publisher's official version
111 Mo
Supplementary data 1.
-1 Mo
How to cite
Saulnier Erwan, Brind'amour Anik, Lecomte Jean Baptiste, Piette Semeril Eloise, Trenkel Verena (2023). Temporal synchrony among juvenile marine fishes and potential climate and environmental drivers in the Bay of Biscay. Progress In Oceanography. 211. 102969 (11p.). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pocean.2023.102969, https://archimer.ifremer.fr/doc/00816/92774/

Copy this text