Salvador E. Lluch-Cota

Centro de Investigaciones Biológicas del Noroeste S.C. | CIBNOR · Department of Fisheries Ecology

The Working Group on Small Pelagic Fish (WGSPF) was established to review progress on un-derstanding how environmental and anthropogenic factors influence Small Pelagic Fish (SPF) population dynamics across different ecosystems. The group’s main aim is to foster international and multidisciplinary collaboration to establish comparative analyses and...

Se presenta el diseño y pruebas de funcionamiento de un sistema de simulación de gradiente térmico para el estudio de las preferencias de temperatura en organismos bentónicos marinos. El sistema consistió en un tanque de fibra de vidrio dividido en un canal experimental flanqueado por secciones distales donde se controlan las temperaturas extremas...

The silvertip shark (Carcharhinus albimarginatus) is a reef-associated shark widely distributed across the Indo-Pacific. However, it has been poorly studied and little is known about its spatial ecology, particularly about long-range travels. In this study, we investigated the residency and movement patterns of silvertip sharks in a widespread remo...

The biomass of marine species must typically be expressed in terms of dry weight. Direct measurement, however, can be problematic under some operating situations. When fine-grained comparisons between individuals are not required, one solution that is widely utilized is the use of conversion factors, but these must be specific and generated using t...

Green abalone (Haliotis fulgens) experienced severe biomass losses and massive mortality due to short-term marine climatic extremes. We studied green abalone behavior and energy expenditure in response to environmental stress. Acclimatized juveniles were subjected to hyperthermia (26°C), hypoxia (1.0 mg O2 L-1), the combination of both, and control...

Análisis de aptitudes para el desarrollo sustentable de la acuicultura en el estado de baja california sur: historia, situación actual, potencial disponible, alternativas de planeación y ordenamiento" RESUMEN La acuacultura es una importante actividad productiva que genera empleos y alimento de alto valor nutricional, por lo que se plantea como una...

The study of planktonic mollusks is a relevant element to understand the dynamics of the benthic communities under present and future environmental conditions. We present the description of the biodiversity of planktonic gastropods at 2 sampling sites on the Pacific coast of the Baja California Peninsula, Mexico. Organisms collected from plankton t...

Between 20 and 24 marine extinctions, ranging from algal to mammal species, have occurred over the past 500 years. These relatively low numbers question whether the sixth mass extinction that is underway on land is also occurring in the ocean. There is, however, increasing evidence of worldwide losses of marine populations that may foretell a wave...

Climate change affects food production systems, forcing them to adapt. For marine fisheries, adaptation has been incremental and insufficient, and transformative adaptation stands as the opportunity for a timely transition to a more climate-resilient condition. Based on a limited transformational background that comes from the particularities of ma...

Understanding how the performance, fitness, and distribution of species are impacted by changes in temperature is crucial for forecasting the ecological effects of climate change. Increasing mean sea surface temperature may alter the distribution of abalone species in the northeastern Pacific, although no apparent pattern has yet emerged. Ecophysio...

The thermal responses and tolerance of organisms can be influenced by synergistic interactions with other environmental stresses. Although the heat sensitivity of the whiteleg shrimp (Penaeus vannamei Boone, 1931 = Litopenaeus vannamei) has been extensively researched, little is known about how hypoxia impacts the thermal tolerance of the species....

En este artículo se expone cómo a pesar de que la ciencia y la tecnología han permitido aumentar históricamente la productividad agrícola, hoy día existen grandes retos derivados del cambio climático y la crisis global de abastecimiento de agua. Se comentan algunas medidas de adaptación y manejo del recurso agua, con algunas referencias a nue...

Since AR5, climate-change impacts have become more frequent, intense and have affected many millions of people from every region and sector across North America (Canada, USA and Mexico). Accelerating climate-change hazards pose significant risks to the well-being of North American populations and the natural, managed and human systems on which they...

The Working Group II contribution to the Sixth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) provides a comprehensive assessment of the scientific literature relevant to climate change impacts, adaptation and vulnerability. The report recognizes the interactions of climate, ecosystems and biodiversity, and human societie...

The Working Group II contribution to the Sixth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) provides a comprehensive assessment of the scientific literature relevant to climate change impacts, adaptation and vulnerability. The report recognizes the interactions of climate, ecosystems and biodiversity, and human societie...

Climate change is altering the life cycles of many pathogenic organisms and changing the risk of transmission of vector- and water-borne infectious diseases to humans (high confidence). The rearrangement and emergence of some diseases are already observed in temperate zone and high-elevation areas and coastal areas (medium confidence to high confid...

Available at: https://www.ipcc.ch/report/ar6/wg2/downloads/report/IPCC_AR6_WGII_FinalDraft_Chapter03.pdf

Temperature and hypoxia anomalies are observed in many coastal regions, and climate change is likely to cause a more frequent and intense occurrence of environmental extremes. Understanding their impacts on benthic populations is critical, especially on those with little or no mobility. In this contribution, the effects of hyperthermia (to 26°C) an...

In the Gulf of California; mineral deposits have contributed to high metal contents in coastal environments. This study examined cadmium; lead; copper; zinc; and iron contents in three fish species; Kyphosus vaigiensis (herbivore), Stegastes rectifraenum (omnivore), and Balistes polylepis (carnivore) at two mining sites. Metal concentrations were a...

The Bay of La Paz (BLPZ), located in the southwestern Gulf of California, is a region of significant biological productivity and strong environmental variability that remains to be understood. In particular, the spatial signature of different El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) conditions and their impact on the ecology of the bay remains puzzling...

Bivalves' physiological functions (i.e. growth, reproduction) are influenced by environmental variability that can be concomi-tant with trophic resource variations in terms of quality and quantity. Among the essential molecules that bivalves need to acquire from their diet to maintain physiological functions, fatty acids (FAs) such as polyunsaturat...

Although Litopenaeus vannamei is a widely studied species, the information on how the organisms respond to natural daily variations of environmental conditions such as temperature and dissolved oxygen, and how such conditions alter the physiological responses, is scarce. In the present work, the strategies used by shrimps to cope with temperature a...

Los sistemas de manglar son de gran importancia a nivel mundial por su alta productividad primaria y secundaria, ya que sustentan una gran abundancia y diversidad de peces. Las modificaciones antrópicas de los sistemas de manglar han mostrado un decaimiento en la calidad del hábitat para muchas especies de peces, ocasionando cambios en el nicho tró...

Small pelagic fisheries management is difficult because they exhibit large natural abundance fluctuations and are considered forage fish. We discuss the challenges faced by these fisheries within the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) sustainability certification framework, which evaluates the sustainability of fish stocks, the environmental impact,...

The trophic fate of various food sources is of central interest for ecologists, yet not well understood in coastal lagoon food webs. In this field study, fatty acids (FA), stable isotopes (SI), and compound-specific isotopic analysis (CSIA) on FA were used to investigate how diets from oceanic and local sources are retained in a bivalve species (Sp...

The frequency and strength of extreme events are increasing due to climate change. These events have the potential to cause mass mortalities and recruitment failure in very short time scales. Here, we explored three relevant basic questions using green abalone: how the lethal levels of environmental variables (i.e. temperature, oxygen, and pH) chan...

Understanding the nature and origins of food sources supporting coastal lagoon-inhabiting organisms is necessary to evaluate the ecological status of such ecosystems. The trophic ecology of a bivalve species Spondylus crassisquama was studied in the Ojo de Liebre lagoon (Baja California, Mexico), combining stable isotope (SI), fatty acid (FA) and s...

Small pelagic fish species have been a central research topic for more than 60 years because of their ecological role, their economic importance, and the apparent multidecadal large fluctuations in catches, synchronic fluctuations from remote regions, and the alternation between the abundance of sardine and anchovies within each system. Strong evid...

Small-pelagic fishes are economically and ecologically important as they make up a large proportion of wild-caught fisheries and provide an important link between planktonic organisms and higher trophic level organisms such as piscivorous fishes, squid, seabirds and marine mammals. In the California Current Ecosystem (CCE), the distribution and abu...

We develop a multi-model approach to explore how abundance of a forage fish (Pacific sardine Sardinops sagax) impacts the ecosystem and predators in the California Current, a region where sardine and anchovy Engraulis mordax have recently declined to less than 10% of contemporary peak abundances. We developed or improved applications of three ecosy...

Arid zone mangroves of the southwestern Gulf of California provide ecosystem services because of their habitat heterogeneity, structure, and functions, which are important for the formation of fish assemblages. Structure, litterfall production, and leaf decomposition in three mangrove communities located at La Paz Bay, Mexico, were analyzed. Litter...

Mexico is a fishing country, and most of its production comes from the Pacific Ocean, with contributions from both industrial and artisanal fisheries. Most important resources include the small pelagics (sardine and anchovy), shrimp, jumbo squid from the Gulf of California, tuna from the tropical Pacific, and lobster and abalone from the west coast...

Se expone un caso de generación de conocimiento nuevo en la ecología frente al surgimiento de propuestas de remediación climática a escala global, conocidas como técnicas de ingeniería climática. Un grupo de ecólogos realizó un ejercicio estructurado llamado escaneo de impactos, con el objetivo de definir cuál es el conocimiento inexistente y cuále...

During the last 60 years, the world marine fisheries potential has been estimated between 22·10 ⁶ tons and 1 400·10 ⁶ tons. However, there are no certain indications of when and with what probability such potential will be reached. By fitting a logistic curve to the observed world marine catch, corrected for discards and illegal, unreported and unr...

Anthropogenic modification of mangrove systems can lead to decreased habitat quality, potentially affecting food web structure and ecosystem function. Based on carbon and nitrogen stable isotopes, we evaluated the trophic structure of the fish communities from three mangrove systems in southern Baja California, Mexico, subject to varying levels of...

Climate change has significant implications for biodiversity and ecosystems. With slow progress towards reducing greenhouse gas emissions, climate engineering (or ‘geoengineering’) is receiving increasing attention for its potential to limit anthropogenic climate change and its damaging effects. Proposed techniques, such as ocean fertilization for...

Como sucede con los reportes del IPCC, el grupo de trabajo dos del Reporte Mexicano de Cambio Climático está dedicado a documentar los impactos, la vulnerabilidad y la adaptación en México. Se determinó que fuese el primero en presentarse porque desde el Primer Estudio País México ante el cambio climático, México se asumió como un país vulnerable a...

En este capítulo se revisa el conocimiento actual de tendencias observadas y esperadas por el Cambio Climático en los mares circundantes al territorio nacional. El conjunto de temas abordados es amplio, incluyendo 1) temperatura y contenido de energía térmica, 2) oleaje, 3) hidrografía (masas de agua), y 4) acidificación. Estos temas, sin ser exhau...

Stable isotopes (delta C-13, delta N-15) were used to assess differences in the diets of wild adult Haliotis fulgens and Haliotis corrugata. Temporal variations in the diets of these species were compared using specimens collected monthly during one annual cycle in Laguna La Bocana, whereas comparisons were made with samples taken in October 2012 i...

Resumen: las actividades económicas reflejan los rasgos del de-sarrollo local en las unidades de producción dedicadas a la pesca de pequeña escala, de las localidades pesqueras en el municipio de La Paz, Baja California Sur, y es posible que los ingresos derivados de esta actividad no cubran las nece-sidades de sus pobladores. El objetivo del prese...

Studies about individual growth for geoducks are relevant because they allow an understanding of biomass production and its maintenance in the population. This study presents the first growth curves for Panopea globosa from the southwestern Baja California Peninsula. Geoduck samples were collected from November 2006 to October 2007 in Bahía Magdale...

We describe and document an end-to-end model of anchovy and sardine population dynamics in the California Current as a proof of principle that such coupled models can be developed and implemented. The end-to-end model is 3-dimensional, time-varying, and multispecies, and consists of four coupled submodels: hydrodynamics, Eulerian nutrient-phytoplan...

Within the marine environment, the rocky shores are recognized for their high species diversity and particularly transitional zones represent areas of biotic mix, promoted by historical and ecological natural variations that allow the presence of taxa from different regions and which present dissimilar biological traits. An extensive survey describ...

El libro contiene diferentes aproximaciones economicas ecologicas al desarrollo regional considerando las limitaciones de capital natural, sus ecosistemas y sus servicios

Environmental certification and consumer awareness programs are designed to create market incentives for implementing fisheries and aquaculture practices that are more sustainable. Typically focused on particular species and activities, such programs have so far triggered few changes to improve seafood sustainability. Here, we present a conceptual,...

Interannual correlation between satellite-derived sea surface temperature (SST) and surface chlorophyll a (Chl a) are examined in the coastal upwelling zone off Punta Eugenia on the west coast of the Baja California Peninsula, an area than has been identified as having intense biological productivity and oceanographic transition between midlatitude...

Introduction: Point of Departure, Observations, and Projections The oceans cover about 71% of Earth’s surface to an average depth of 3700 m. Their importance for life on Earth, including humans, is vast (FAQ 6.1). Marine habitats display natural variability on various spatial and temporal scales but a dearth of long-term observational data from the...

Changes in global mean sea surface temperature may have potential negative implications for natural and socioeconomic systems; however, measurements to predict trends in different regions have been limited and sometimes contradictory. In this study, an assessment of sea surface temperature change signals in the seas off Mexico is presented and comp...

Marine ecosystems are already responding to climate change, with examples found in virtually all of the world's oceans. Although there is not a singular response of marine amniotes to climate change, individual observations indicate three kinds of interrelated responses of marine amniotes: distribution shifts (geographic ranges), phenological chang...

The group of small pelagics (sardines, anchovies, herrings, etc.) is the largest source of wild marine protein worldwide, providing annually between 21% and 43% of the total marine capture production during at least the last 60 y (1). Even when large-scale fisheries have been operating for decades to centuries, their assessment and management remai...

Interannual correlation between satellite-derived sea surface temperature (SST) and surface chlorophyll a (Chl a) are examined in the coastal upwelling zone off Punta Eugenia on the west coast of the Baja California Peninsula, area identified as intense biological productivity and oceanographic transition between mid-latitude and tropical ocean con...

Density banding provides a record of performance of coral colonies over time and across environments, and offers 3 measurable variables: skeletal density, extension rate, and calcification rate. Skeleton formation is energetically expensive for corals and may be associated with other energy-dependent processes, such as reproduction. Egg production...

There are limited studies involving geomorphic factors and ecological patterns on a landscape scale of coastal features. This study examines the hypothesis that the structure of mangroves varies with habitat type. Using geomorphic criteria, we identified and classified 51 lagoons that contain mangroves on the Baja California Peninsula. Four lagoon...

Some pods of gray whales (Eschrichtius robustus) breed every winter at three lagoons along the Baja California Peninsula and then migrate to feeding grounds on the Bering and Chukchi Seas. The number of whales arriving to the lagoons fluctuates yearly and is related to climate variability. We analyzed the documented climate effects on the whales ov...

Resumen La administración de los recursos pesqueros típicamente ha recaído en los Estados Centrales, éstos la han implementado a través de medidas coercitivas del tipo comando-control; sin embargo, estas medidas han sido insuficientes. Para fortalecer la administración pesquera se han desarrollado esquemas de co-manejo que incluyen la participación...