1997-98 El Niño effects on the pelagic ecosystem of the California current off Baja California, Mexico

We analyze the plankton response to 1997-98 El Niño in the southern region (26-32°N) of the California Current, from fourIMECOCAL cruises. Integrated chlorophyll a showed a moderate increase at the end of the ENSO, but chlorophyll in VizcainoBay remained fairly constant. The medians were higher than...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores: Luis C. Jiménez Pérez, María R. González Esparza, Timothy Baumgartner, Joaquín García Cordova, Bertha E. Lavaniegos, Gilberto Gaxiola Castro
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Estado:Versión publicada
Fecha de publicación:2003
País:México
Institución:Universidad Autónoma de Baja California
Repositorio:Redalyc-UABC
OAI Identifier:oai:redalyc.org:56842320
Acceso en línea:https://www.redalyc.org/articulo.oa?id=56842320
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:Ciencias de la Tierra
salps
El Niño
copepods
IMECOCAL
chlorophyll
Descripción
Sumario:We analyze the plankton response to 1997-98 El Niño in the southern region (26-32°N) of the California Current, from fourIMECOCAL cruises. Integrated chlorophyll a showed a moderate increase at the end of the ENSO, but chlorophyll in VizcainoBay remained fairly constant. The medians were higher than 40 mg m-2 through 1998. Zooplankton biomass showed a localdecrease from Punta Baja (30°N) to Vizcaino Bay, but not in other areas. The zooplankton decrease was mainly due to the lowerabundance of copepods and euphausiids at the end of El Niño. High concentration of zooplankton from Punta Eugenia (27.7°N) toSan Ignacio (26.7°N), could be explained by the presence of abundant salps. A strong presence of tropical copepod species wasobserved during the peak of El Niño, most abundant being the oceanic Nannocalanus minor and Eucalanus subtenuis. Abundancesof the transitional species Calanus pacificus, Pleuromamma borealis and Rhincalanus nasutus were low.