Meeting Abstract
47.1 Saturday, Jan. 5 Predicting the effect of multiple stressors on respiratory niches in the pelagic ocean over the next century SMITH, K. A.*; DUNNE, J. P.; SARMIENTO, J. L.; Princeton University; NOAA Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory; Princeton University kas3@princeton.edu
Global climate change is rapidly altering temperature, oxygen, and acidity in the ocean environment and the effect that these changes will have on pelagic fisheries and ecosystems is an increasing concern. Oxygen availability is one of the most important factors for determining the distribution of fish in the pelagic ocean environment. Oxygen is extracted from the ocean environment in the gills. The extraction process requires oxygen to diffuse through the gill membrane and into the red blood cell where it binds with hemoglobin. The rate of hemoglobin oxygenation is sensitive to both temperature and acidity and is highly variable among species. A fish is unlikely to use habitat where aerobic metabolism is impeded by low rates of hemoglobin oxygenation. We use the P50, the oxygen tension at 50% hemoglobin oxygen saturation, as a proxy to determine available habitat in the ocean. The effects of temperature and acidity on P50 are incorporated into the analysis. Habitat thickness is predicted for a range of physiological traits in the global ocean using temperature, oxygen and pH data from NOAA’s Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory Earth System Models. Results indicate that there will be habitat compression in the next century.
