Impacts of hypoxia on the structure and processes in pelagic communities (zooplankton, macro-invertebrates and fish)

By W. Ekau, H. Auel, H. Pörtner, Denis Gilbert. 2009

438 citations recorded by the source corpus.

Abstract. Dissolved oxygen (DO) concentration in the water column is an environmental parameter that is crucial for the successful development of many pelagic organisms. Hypoxia tolerance and threshold values are species- and stage-specific and can vary enormously. While some fish species may suffer from oxygen values of less than 3 mL O2 L−1 through impacted growth, development and behaviour, other organisms such as euphausiids may survive DO levels as low as 0.1 mL O2 L−1. A change in the average or the range of DO may have significant impacts on the survival of certain species and hence on the species composition in the ecosystem with consequent changes in trophic pathways and productivity. Evidence for the deleterious effects of oxygen depletion on pelagic species is scarce, particularly in terms of the effect of low oxygen on development, recruitment and patterns of migration and distribution. While planktonic organisms have to cope with variable DOs and exploit adaptive mechanisms, nektonic species may avoid areas of unfavourable DO and develop adapted migration strategies. Planktonic organisms may only be able to escape vertically, above or beneath the Oxygen Minimum Zone (OMZ). In shallow areas only the surface layer can serve as a refuge, but in deep waters many organisms have developed vertical migration strategies to use, pass through and cope with the OMZ. This paper elucidates the role of DO for different taxa in the pelagic realm and the consequences of low oxygen for foodweb structure and system productivity. We describe processes in two contrasting systems, the semi-enclosed Baltic Sea and the coastal upwelling system of the Benguela Current to demonstrate the consequences of increasing hypoxia on ecosystem functioning and services.

Subfields: Global and Planetary Change, Oceanography

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/054422c00a81bd4a8bef1e14b284c7b61ea05ee7

How researchers see this paper

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In Global and Planetary Change

1. J. Kim
2. C. Yarish
3. G. Kraemer
4. E. Houde
5. S. Brandt
6. J. Pierson
7. M. Roman
8. B. Riedel

In Oceanography

1. J. Kim
2. C. Yarish
3. H. Pörtner
4. B. Riedel
5. M. Stachowitsch
6. M. Zuschin
7. M. Roman
8. J. Pierson

Citations in the corpus

• Field scale evaluation of seaweed aquaculture as a nutrient bioextraction strategy in Long Island Sound and the Bronx River Estuary (2014, background): “Anthropogenic flux of nutrients into coastal waters leads to coastal eutrophication, which can result in hypoxia, both conditions that threaten ecosystem health (Davidson et al., 2012; Diaz and Rosenberg, 2008; Ekau et al., 2010; GESAMP, 1990; Howarth et al., 2000; Kemp et al., 2009; NRC, 2000; Vare”
• Interactive Effects of Hypoxia and Temperature on Coastal Pelagic Zooplankton and Fish (2019, background): “Hypoxia-induced changes in food webs may result from changes in the abundances of some species and/or the distributional overlap of predators and prey (Breitburg et al., 1997; Ekau et al., 2010).”
• Zooplankton in the eastern tropical north Pacific: Boundary effects of oxygen minimum zone expansion (2013, neutral): “This expansion could have profound effects on oceanic ecosystem structure and function, including species distributions, vertical fluxes, benthic–pelagic coupling, and fisheries (Wishner et al., 1990; Levin, 2003; Diaz and Rosenberg, 2008; Ekau et al., 2010; Rabalais et al., 2010; Stramma et al., 20”
• Zooplankton Community Responses to Oxygen Stress (2020, background): “The dissolved oxygen (DO) concentration in the water column is a crucial parameter for the successful development of many pelagic organisms [1].”
• Potential impacts of future ocean acidification on marine ecosystems and fisheries: current knowledge and recommendations for future research (2011, background): “Ekau et al. (2010) expanded that analysis to pelagic communities from zooplankton to fish, finding a range in hypoxic thresholds from as high as 3 ml O2 l – 1 ( 130 mmol O2 kg ) for certain fish species to as low as 0.”
• Expansion of oxygen minimum zones may reduce available habitat for tropical pelagic fishes (2012, background): “These high-oxygen-demand species also share obligate ram ventilation respiration, large gill surface and intolerance to low ambient dissolved oxyge”
• Effect of hypoxia and anoxia on invertebrate behaviour: Ecological perspectives from species to community level (2013, background): “Behavioural parameters thus integrate direct and indirect responses across several levels of biological organisation, from individual fitness to community composition, reflecting cascading changes in biodiversity, biogeochemical processes and ecosystem function (e.g. Solan et al., 2004; Middelburg a”
• Temperature and dissolved oxygen requirements for survival of yellowfin tuna, Thunnus albacares, larvae (2011, background): “Many of theoceanhabitatswhere tuna larvae are foundare characterizedbydecreases or increases inwater temperatures and oxygen levels associated with seasonal changes in thermocline depth and upwelling (Lauth and Olson, 1996; Owen, 1997; Ekau et al., 2010) or with El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) e”