TY - JOUR
T1 - Connectivity in the northern Gulf of California from particle tracking in a three-dimensional numerical model
AU - Marinone, S. G.
AU - Ulloa, M. J.
AU - Parés-Sierra, A.
AU - Lavín, M. F.
AU - Cudney-Bueno, R.
N1 - Funding Information:
This research forms part of the interdisciplinary PANGAS project. Funding was provided by the David and Lucile Packard Foundation (grant # 2004-27789), by the Consejo Nacional de Ciencia y Tecnología (CONACyT) through grants 44055 and D41881-F, and by CICESE's regular operational budget. MFL was as on sabbatical leave at SIO/UCSD thanks to a UCMEXUS-CONACyT grant.
PY - 2008/5
Y1 - 2008/5
N2 - The northern Gulf of California, Mexico, is one of the most productive and diverse marine ecosystems in the world. It currently harbors three marine protected areas, including two biosphere reserves. Despite its significance as a conservation site and its importance for Mexico's fisheries, proper knowledge of population connectivity and larvae dispersal from spawning sites is largely lacking. Our study focuses on connectivity in the northern gulf resulting from advection by currents and turbulent diffusion during summer, the main spawning period of various key commercial species. We calculated connectivity matrices in the northern Gulf from currents produced by the output of a three-dimensional baroclinic numerical model and a random walk process to simulate turbulent motions. We released 2000 hypothetical passive particles in each of 21 areas along the coast (between 0-60 m deep) during the summer and followed their trajectories for periods of 2, 4, 6, and 8 weeks. For the case of full time transport, the effects of tidal currents are minimal in the overall dispersal of passive particles on the time scales studied. However, this can be substantially altered if the particles are allowed to avoid being transported for periods of time; this is illustrated by striking differences between the connectivity matrices obtained by modeling also night-only and day-only advection. This "order zero" connectivity study (i.e., not including realistic larvae behavior, which is species-specific) reveals that during the summer spawning season of key commercial species, regional hydrodynamics produce a cyclonic downstream connectivity along the coast, from the mainland to the Baja California coast. Our results provide the basis for a full connectivity study where larvae behavior and settlement habitat will be included.
AB - The northern Gulf of California, Mexico, is one of the most productive and diverse marine ecosystems in the world. It currently harbors three marine protected areas, including two biosphere reserves. Despite its significance as a conservation site and its importance for Mexico's fisheries, proper knowledge of population connectivity and larvae dispersal from spawning sites is largely lacking. Our study focuses on connectivity in the northern gulf resulting from advection by currents and turbulent diffusion during summer, the main spawning period of various key commercial species. We calculated connectivity matrices in the northern Gulf from currents produced by the output of a three-dimensional baroclinic numerical model and a random walk process to simulate turbulent motions. We released 2000 hypothetical passive particles in each of 21 areas along the coast (between 0-60 m deep) during the summer and followed their trajectories for periods of 2, 4, 6, and 8 weeks. For the case of full time transport, the effects of tidal currents are minimal in the overall dispersal of passive particles on the time scales studied. However, this can be substantially altered if the particles are allowed to avoid being transported for periods of time; this is illustrated by striking differences between the connectivity matrices obtained by modeling also night-only and day-only advection. This "order zero" connectivity study (i.e., not including realistic larvae behavior, which is species-specific) reveals that during the summer spawning season of key commercial species, regional hydrodynamics produce a cyclonic downstream connectivity along the coast, from the mainland to the Baja California coast. Our results provide the basis for a full connectivity study where larvae behavior and settlement habitat will be included.
KW - Connectivity
KW - Fisheries
KW - Gulf of California
KW - Lagrangian circulation
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=40649096379&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.jmarsys.2007.06.005
DO - 10.1016/j.jmarsys.2007.06.005
M3 - Artículo
SN - 0924-7963
VL - 71
SP - 149
EP - 158
JO - Journal of Marine Systems
JF - Journal of Marine Systems
IS - 1-2
ER -