Karin E. Limburg

State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry | SUNY-ESF · Department of Environmental and Forest Biology

Anthropogenic warming and nutrient over-enrichment of our oceans have resulted in significant, and often catastrophic, reductions in dissolved oxygen (deoxygenation). Stress on water-breathing animals from this deoxygenation has been shown to occur at all levels of biological organization: cellular, organ, individual, species, population, community...

Anthropogenic deoxygenation of the Baltic Sea caused major declines in demersal and benthic habitat quality with consequent impacts on biodiversity and ecosystem services. Using Baltic cod otolith chemical proxies of hypoxia, salinity, and fish metabolic status and growth, we tracked changes from baseline conditions in the late Neolithic (4500 BP)...

ABSTRACT: When conducting beam-based microchemical analyses of otoliths and other hard parts of fishes, decisions must be made on setting various parameters. In the case of using lasers to ablate material, the diameter of the laser beam (the spot size) is a parameter that many find difficult to select. On the one hand, a larger spot size will pass...

Anthropogenic warming and nutrient over-enrichment of our oceans have resulted in significant, and often catastrophic, reductions in dissolved oxygen (deoxygenation). Stress on water-breathing animals from this deoxygenation has been shown to occur at all levels of biological organization: cellular; organ; individual; species; population; community...

Anthropogenic deoxygenation of the Baltic Sea caused major declines in demersal and benthic habitat quality with consequent impacts on biodiversity and ecosystem services. We employed Baltic cod as “canaries in the coal mine,” using otolith chemical proxies of hypoxia, salinity, and fish metabolic status and growth to track changes from baseline co...

The use of species distribution models has proliferated, providing insights for sustainable management of migratory species in a globally changing environment. However, many of these models are based on statistical relationships developed from historical conditions that may not perform well under changing or even analogous conditions caused by clim...

Ocean acidification is spreading globally as a result of anthropogenic CO2 emissions, but the Baltic Sea has until recently been thought to be relatively well-buffered by terrigenous inputs of alkalinity from its watershed. We discovered a 3- to 5-fold decline in boron (as B : Ca) in otoliths of eastern Baltic cod (EBC) between the late 1990s and 2...

The rate of sea-level rise (SLR) has increased due to climate change, affecting coastal salt marshes. It is uncertain if species can persist with rapid SLR compounded with other effects of climate change and human activity. SLR-induced habitat loss may lead to extirpations and decreased biodiversity. We conducted a literature review of wildlife tha...

Worsening marine hypoxia has had severe negative consequences for fish communities across the globe. While individual­ and population­level impacts of deoxygenation have been identified, it is unknown how they interact to drive changes in food webs. To address this, we incorporated several major impacts of hypoxia, including declines in benthic re­...

Ocean acidification is spreading globally as a result of anthropogenic CO2 emissions, but the Baltic Sea has until recently been thought to be relatively well-buffered by terrigenous inputs of alkalinity from its watershed. We discovered a 3- to 5-fold decline in boron (as B : Ca) in otoliths of eastern Baltic Sea cod (EBC) between the late 1990s a...

Mercury (Hg) uptake in fish is affected by diet, growth, and environmental factors such as primary productivity or oxygen regimes. Traditionally, fish Hg exposure is assessed using muscle tissue or whole fish, reflecting both loss and uptake processes that result in Hg bioaccumulation over entire lifetimes. Tracking changes in Hg exposure of an ind...

The deep-sea is rapidly losing oxygen, with profound implications for marine organisms. Within Eastern Boundary Upwelling Systems, such as the California and the Benguela Current Ecosystems, an important question is how the ongoing expansion, intensification and shoaling of Oxygen Minimum Zones (OMZs) will affect deep-sea fishes throughout their li...

Graphical abstract for our recent publication on the use of otoliths in fisheries science.

Chemical analysis of calcified structures continues to flourish, as analytical and technological advances enable researchers to tap into trace elements and isotopes taken up in otoliths and other archival tissues at ever greater resolution. Increasingly, these tracers are applied to refine age estimation and interpretation, and to chronicle respons...

Fish often migrate to feed, reproduce and seek refuge from predators and prevailing environmental conditions. As a result, migration tactics often vary among species based on a diversity of life history needs, although variation within species is increasingly being recognised as important to population resilience. In this study, within‐ and among‐s...

Baltic Sea flounder were recently split into two species, the offshore spawner Platichthys flesus and coastal spawner Platichthys solemdali. The two species can only be distinguished based on egg and sperm characteristics and via genetic analyses, which limits the species identification methods of larvae and juveniles to molecular techniques. We in...

Fourteen species of pangasiid catfish are found in the Mekong River. They are key components of both capture fisheries and aquaculture, although little is known about their migratory ecology, which is particularly important as some species are in decline. In order to examine the life-history strategies of key pangasiid catfishes in the Mekong River...

Expansion of aquatic deoxygenation has altered the quality and availability of habitats and worsened body condition for many fish species through past decades. Identifying complementary chemical redox proxies in fish otoliths, in addition to Mn/Ca, would strengthen the ability to identify hypoxia exposure in a diversity of aquatic habitats. I/Ca ra...

River ecosystems drain the landscape through hierarchical series of fluvial channels, beginning with small headwater streams, and enlarging, ultimately, to estuaries meeting the sea. Several conceptual models that provide unifying concepts about the connections of rivers with the landscape in terms of ecosystem properties such as processing of ener...

In this paper, we outline the need for a coordinated international effort toward the building of an open-access Global Ocean Oxygen Database and ATlas (GO2DAT) complying with the FAIR principles (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, and Reusable). GO2DAT will combine data from the coastal and open ocean, as measured by the chemical Winkler titratio...

Spatial and temporal variation of nine elements (Ba, Ca, Cu, Mg, Mn, Na, Se, Sr, and Zn) and some additional environmental parameters (salinity, water levels, and conductivity) were examined over two 2,000 km along the length of the main Mekong River channel from Luang Prabang in Northern Lao PDR to the Mekong Delta in Vietnam. Longitudinal profile...

The intensified expansion of the Baltic Sea’s hypoxic zone has been proposed as one reason for the current poor status of cod ( Gadus morhua ) in the Baltic Sea, with repercussions throughout the food web and on ecosystem services. We examined the links between increased hypoxic areas and the decline in maximum length of Baltic cod, a demographic p...

The global lockdowns brought on by the COVID‐19 pandemic forced an immediate change in the way people moved about; namely, travel was slowed from a turbulent river to a trickle. In‐person meetings, often involving long‐distance flights, were either canceled, postponed, or shifted over to virtual modes. People who were unfamiliar with online meeting...

Freshwater environments host roughly half of the world’s fish diversity, much of which is concentrated in large, tropical river systems such as the Amazon. Fishes are critical to ecosystem functioning in the Amazon River basin but face increasing human threats. The basic biology of these species, and particularly migratory behaviour, remains poorly...

During the past 20 years, hypoxic areas have expanded rapidly in the Baltic Sea, which has become one of the largest marine “dead zones” in the world. At the same time, the most important commercial fish population of the region, the eastern Baltic cod, has experienced a drastic reduction in mean body condition, but the processes behind the relatio...

Accurate age data are essential for reliable fish stock assessment. Yet many stocks suffer from inconsistencies in age interpretation. A new approach to obtain age makes use of the chemical composition of otoliths. This study validates the periodicity of recurrent patterns in ²⁵Mg, ³¹P, ³⁴K, ⁵⁵Mn, ⁶³Cu, ⁶⁴Zn, ⁶⁶Zn, ⁸⁵Rb, ⁸⁸Sr, ¹³⁸Ba, and ²⁰⁸Pb in B...

Diadromous fishes Connectivity of Mekong fishes between freshwater and marine habitats Many Mekong fishes are associated with saline water and require movement between freshwater sections of the river, the delta and the sea. Our work has found that around 11 percent of Mekong fish species distribute in a wide range of environments (freshwater, brac...

Fish otoliths' chronometric properties make them useful for age and growth rate estimation in fisheries management. For the Eastern Baltic Sea cod stock (Gadus morhua), unclear seasonal growth zones in otoliths have resulted in unreliable age and growth information. Here, a new age estimation method based on seasonal patterns in trace elemental oto...

Bar-built coastal lagoons are dynamic ecosystems at the land-sea interface that are important habitats for a variety of species. This study examined the habitat ecology of two lagoon species, the endangered Tidewater Goby (Eucyclogobius newberryi) and the Prickly Sculpin (Cottus asper) by reconstructing individual life histories from patterns in th...

Otolith chemistry has gained increasing attention as a tool for analyzing various aspects of fish biology, such as stock dynamics, migration patterns, hypoxia and pollution exposure, and connectivity between habitats. While these studies often assume otolith elemental concentrations reflect environmental conditions, physiological processes are incr...

The southern New England – mid-Atlantic (SNE–MA) stock of winter flounder (Pseudopleuronectes americanus) collapsed in the 1990s without discernable recovery to date. Owing to the lack of recovery, consideration of population subcomponents, which are currently ignored in fisheries stock structure definitions, may be necessary for rebuilding. We use...

Abstract. During the past twenty years, hypoxic areas have expanded exponentially in the Baltic Sea, which has become one of the largest marine dead zones in the world. At the same time, the most important commercial fish population of the region, the Eastern Baltic cod, has experienced a drastic reduction in mean body condition, but the processes...

Aquatic ecosystems worldwide face growing threats from elevated levels of contaminants from human activities. Toxic levels of selenium (Se) shown to cause deformities in birds, fish, and mammals can transfer from parents to progeny during embryonic development or accumulate through Se-enriched diets. For migratory species that move across landscape...

Earth’s ocean is losing oxygen; since the mid-20th century, 1%–2% of the global ocean oxygen inventory has been lost, and over 700 coastal sites have reported new or worsening low-oxygen conditions. This ‘‘ocean deoxygenation’’ is increasing and of great concern because of the potential magnitude of adverse changes to both global and localmarine ec...

Deoxygenation worldwide is increasing in aquatic systems with implications for organisms' biology, communities and ecosystems. Eastern Baltic cod has experienced a strong decline in mean body condition (i.e. weight at a specific length) over the past 20 years with effects on the fishery relying on this resource. The decrease in cod condition has be...

Amazonian goliath catfishes are widespread in the Amazon Basin. Recently, otolith ⁸⁷ Sr: ⁸⁶ Sr analyses using laser ablation–multi‐collector–inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (LA‐MC‐ICPMS) revealed a >8,000 km trans‐Amazonian natal homing in Brachyplatystoma rousseauxii among fish caught and hatched in the largest Amazon River tributary,...

Alosa pseudoharengus (alewife) has declined throughout New England. A factor that may be responsible for such stock reductions is urbanization of watersheds discharging into alewife nursery ponds. We found that young-of-the-year (YOY) alewife length, weight, condition factor, and growth rate decreased in relation to increased urban land cover on wa...

Predicted increases in temperatures over the next century have raised many concerns about changes in the life history traits and geographical distributions of anadromous fishes. Anadromous fishes are particularly vulnerable to human activities due to the diverse array of habitats needed to complete their life cycle and the proximity of essential ha...

This chapter treats the urban system's intersection with the water cycle. The water cycle will be explained, and the city's local and regional effects will be examined. These will include water routing to and from humans: water consumption (drinking and other uses) and sewering systems; runoff interactions: how impervious surface affects runoff fro...

The loss of parasitism in metazoan lineages is often seen as unlikely, but it has occurred in some lineages (e.g., leeches, lampreys). How and why parasitism is lost is aptly addressed by studying lampreys, because extant species include a range of feeding modes and parasitism has been lost repeatedly. An individual‐based model was developed to det...

This chapter treats the urban system’s intersection with the water cycle. The water cycle will be explained, and the city’s local and regional effects will be examined. These will include water routing to and from humans, water consumption (drinking and other uses) and sewering systems; runoff interactions, how impervious surface affects runoff fro...

Trace element:Ca (Ba:Ca, Mg:Ca, Mn:Ca and Sr:Ca) ratios in water and last growth intervals (outer 45 µm) of dorsal spine and otolith edges from Genidens barbus in three study areas (Brazil, Argentina-Uruguay and Patagonia) were compared, to see if the spine can provide a non-lethal natural marker alternative to otoliths for this endangered species....

The Baltic Sea contains the world’s largest anthropogenic deoxygenated zone, with increasing episodes and areal extent of hypoxia/anoxia. Atlantic cod in the Baltic has suffered a loss in condition which has been attributed mainly to hypoxia. Otoliths, the aragonitic structures that form part of the hearing/balance system in fishes, accumulate Mn i...

The Hudson River watershed (HRW) contains at least 797 registered dams on its tributaries that disrupt connectivity for endemic sea-run fishes to access critical nursery and spawning habitat. Derelict or hazardous dams are often targeted for removal to aid in river connectivity efforts, however communities interested in dam removal must consider mu...

Climate, by altering the spatio-temporal distributions of suitable habitats, leads to modifications in a multitude of species ranges. In recent years, the ability of species to adjust to changing climatic conditions is of growing concern. In the present study, a generic trait-based method to assess species exploratory potential under climate change...

The incorporation of a number of readily measured trace elements into otoliths is considered to be under some sort of physiological control, but rarely are explicit mechanisms proposed. Studies of the incorporation of the trace element magnesium reveal that in some taxa there exists strong seasonal patterning, taking on the characteristics of a “ch...

We have begun to explore statistical techniques to analyze patterns of multi-element microchemistry of fish otoliths. Two software platforms are being used to examine relationships between elemental concentrations at varying distances from the otolith core: DISCO2 and ArcGIS spatial statistics toolbox. DISCO2 is a free, web-based data analysis and...

Beneath the waves, oxygen disappears As plastic waste pollutes the oceans and fish stocks decline, unseen below the surface another problem grows: deoxygenation. Breitburg et al. review the evidence for the downward trajectory of oxygen levels in increasing areas of the open ocean and coastal waters. Rising nutrient loads coupled with climate chang...

Over the past 40 years, the southern New England/mid-Atlantic (SNE/MA) stock of winter flounder (Pseudopleuronectes americanus) has experienced size-selective fishing of spawning adults, habitat degradation, and increased juvenile predation, corresponding to a collapse of the stock in the 1990s without discernable recovery to date. Despite manageme...

This article investigates the mechanics of loss of Hudson River Vallisneria americana after the high volume storms at the end of the 2011 growing season, when two severe weather events—Tropical Storm Irene and the remnants of Tropical Storm Lee—struck the Hudson River watershed. In 2012, the distribution of the most common species of submerged aqua...

X-ray fluorescencecomputed tomography is often used to measure trace element distributions within low-Z samples, using algorithms capable of X-ray absorption correction when sample self-absorption is not negligible. Its reconstruction is more complicated compared to transmission tomography, and therefore not widely used. We describe in this paper a...

Assessments of growth can provide information needed to understand how fish populations respond to changing environmental conditions and management actions, including ecosystem experimentation. We estimated growth rates and parameter uncertainty from otoliths of endangered Humpback Chub Gila cypha from the Colorado River in Grand Canyon, Arizona. W...

Winter flounder (Pseudopleuronectes americanus) has declined precipitously over the past 30 years in the coastal bays of Long Island, NY. Lack of recovery is highlighted by a decline in stock productivity and a recruitment bottleneck, whereby strong year-classes undergo high mortality and fail to recruit into the population. Several hypotheses have...

Amazonian fishes employ diverse migratory strategies, but the details of these behaviours remain poorly studied despite numerous environmental threats and heavy commercial exploitation of many species. Otolith microchemistry offers a practical, cost-effective means of studying fish life history in such a system. This study employed a multi-method,...

Non-destructive microbeam-based methods were used for 2-D mapping of trace elements to gain a greater appreciation of otolith composition and spatial configuration. Based on studies of a wide variety of fish taxa, this approach more fully captures the nature of otolith chemical heterogeneity. Such variations may be due to a number of factors, inclu...

Anadromous fishes are commonly thought to use inland waters for spawning and for rearing in the first growing season. Thereafter, they emigrate seaward to feed, grow, and mature. However, yearling (age 1+) alosine herrings have been observed in the Hudson River estuary during the spawning season. We quantified the frequency of this behavior for Blu...

We observed that paired winter flounder (Pseudopleuronectes americanus) sagittae are not morphologically or chemically identical. Statistically significant (p < 0.05) chemical asymmetry was detected between the sagittae in five of eight elements (with three other elements, Sr, I, and Sn not statistically different). The blind-side otolith exhibited...

Over the past 10 years, several thousand otoliths have been analyzed with PIXE (using 2.55 MeV protons) at LIBAF (Lund Ionbeam Analysis Facility, formerly LNMP Lund Nuclear Micro Probe). Over 40 elements have been identified in otoliths, many at levels suitable for PIXE analysis. Readily detectable elements in otoliths starting with Ca are: Ca (the...

Juvenile habitat use and early life migratory behaviors of successfully recruited adult fish provide unique insight into critical habitats for a population, and this information allows restoration plans to be tailored to maximize benefits. Retrospective analysis of adult otolith chemistry combined with fish-otolith growth models were used to assess...

Manganese is a commonly found constituent in fish otoliths, yet a direct correlation with ambient water concentrations as observed for other elements has proven elusive. There is compelling evidence that Mn uptake is related to the availability of reduced Mn (Mn2+) resulting from hypoxia (Limburg et al. 201523. Limburg, K. E., B. D. Walther, Z. Lu,...

The advent of the Anthropocene underscores the need to develop and implement transformative governance strategies that safeguard the Earth's life-support systems, most critically at the ocean–land interface — the Margin. The seaward realm of the Margin is the new frontier for resource exploitation and colonization to meet the needs of coastal natio...