Scientists from the University of Hawaii joined more than 150 colleagues at the First Climate Impacts on Oceanic Top Predators Symposium that starts a 10-year project to investigate the impact of climate change on top predators in the world's oceans.
The symposium, hosted by the Centro Interdisciplinario de Ciencias Marianas and the Centro de Investigaciones Biologicas del Noroesta, was held Dec. 3-7, 2007, at La Paz, Baja California Sur, Mexico. The symposium was attended by scientists from 25 different countries.
Predators include such economically important fish as tunas, as well as billfish, sharks, whales, dolphins, sea turtles and sea birds. All of these species are affected by such changes in climate as variability in winds, ocean currents, air and sea temperatures, and rainfall levels. El Niño and La Niña changes are the most well known and significant aspect of year-to-year climate variability, but climate change also occurs over decades and centuries.
The University of Hawaii's Pelagic Fisheries Research Program played an active role in the symposium. Dr. John Sibert, manager of the PFRP and a member of the CLIOTOP Steering Committee, helped organize the symposium, and the PFRP sponsored student participation. PFRP-funded research reported at the symposium addresses several aspects of how climate change will affect top predators, for example, how potential changes in the base of the oceanic food web will affect the feeding of top predators, the migration patterns of hatchling sea turtles, and the size of tuna populations. (PR)
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