Ecosystems and Oceanography Division

The Ecosystems and Oceanography Division (EOD) conducts research to advance our understanding of the structure and dynamics of central North Pacific marine ecosystems. In particular, we seek to understand how marine populations change in response to both direct changes in their predators and prey as well as from broader habitat-based changes in the ocean climate including El Niño, La Niña, and other interannual or decadal events. More...

News and Highlights

• April 24, 2013
  

  Analysis Shows Effects of Exploitation on Species and Size Composition of Pelagic Fish Community

  Recent research by Jeffrey Polovina and Phoebe Woodworth-Jefcoats of the PIFSC Ecosystems and Oceanography Division indicates that the Hawaii-based deep-set longline fishery is likely the cause of observed changes in the species and size composition of the fishery's catch. More...
• November 26, 2012
  

  Development of TurtleWatch for Leatherback Turtles is Underway

  PIFSC scientists are partnering with colleagues at the NMFS Southwest Fisheries Science Center (SWFSC) and the University of Maryland to expand the NOAA TurtleWatch program with the objective of helping to reduce incidental fishery interactions with endangered leatherback sea turtles. More...
• November 26, 2012
  

  Given Location of Midwater Trawl Catch, Hindcast Simulation Suggests Likely Origins of Larval Shorefishes

  To effectively achieve conservation goals and regulate human activities in marine ecosystems, resource managers need to understand the connectivity of fish and other biota in the ecosystem—how organisms in a particular area or habitat are related to those in a different location through colonization and movement in a spatially-structured environment. More...

Recent Staff Publications

• April 22, 2013

  Mesophotic coral ecosystems - potential candidates as essential fish habitat and habitat areas of particular concern.

  Blyth-Skyrme VJ, Rooney JJ, Parrish FA, Boland RC
  [2013] Pacific Islands Fisheries Science Center Administrative Report H-13-02, 53 p

  Download ( 9.5 MB PDF )
• April 19, 2013

  Fishery-induced changes in the subtropical Pacific pelagic ecosystem size structure: observations and theory

  Polovina JJ, Woodworth-Jefcoats PA
  [2013] PLos ONE 8(4): e62341. DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0062341

  View Abstract Download ( 0.4 MB PDF )
• January 15, 2013

  Ecosystem size structure response to 21st century climate projection: large fish abundance decreases in the central North Pacific and increases in the California Current

  Woodworth-Jefcoats PA, Polovina JJ, Dunne JP, Blanchard JL
  [2012] Global Change Biology 19(3): 724-733. DOI: 10.1111/gcb.12076

  View Abstract
• December 11, 2012

  Vertically migrating micronekton and macrozooplankton communities around Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands

  Suntsov A, Domokos R
  [2013] Deep-Sea Research I 71: 113-129. DOI: 10.1016/j.dsr.2012.10.009

  View Abstract
• November 26, 2012

  Relative influence of climate variability and direct anthropogenic impact on a sub-tropical Pacific top predator, the Hawaiian monk seal

  Baker JD, Howell EA, Polovina JJ
  [2012] Marine Ecology Progress Series 469: 175-189. DOI: 10.3354/meps09987

  View Abstract Download ( 0.6 MB PDF )
• November 26, 2012

  Reevaluation of the DPS designation for Hawaiian (now main Hawaiian Islands) insular false killer whales

  Oleson EM, Boggs CH, Forney KA, Hanson MB, Kobayashi DR, Taylor BL, Wade PR, Ylitalo GM
  [2012] Pacific Islands Fisheries Science Center, PIFSC Internal Report, IR-12-038, 39 p

  Download ( 1.1 MB PDF )