Speaker: Lorenzo Ciannelli, Fisheries Oceanography Lab, CEOAS, Oregon State University

Topic: Spatial and temporal constraints of fish distribution

As marine fish experience climate-driven changes in the ocean, one mode of adaptation is for fish to spatially and/or temporally shift the occupancy of their habitats. Spawning location (geography) and timing (phenology) are key traits that can affect not only survival, but also assessment and management of commercially harvested species.  There are, however, limits to these changes, imposed by the presence of essential habitats and by the timing of life cycle events. I will discuss these boundary responses and the analytical approaches that can characterize potential bottlenecks affecting spatial distribution and timing of life cycle events. Knowledge about these boundary responses is key for predicting the impact of future environmental change, such as ocean warming. Through these analyses we build the capacity to study species adaptability to climate change and to project species in future scenarios. In this talk I will summarize work conducted with collaborators to: 1. quantify the degree to which fish geography and phenology are constrained in space and/or sensitive to changes in environmental conditions, particularity during early life stages 2. assessing possible trade-offs between changes in phenology and changes in geography; 3. develop size-specific distribution models; 4. projecting species distribution over multiple life history stages.