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| Format: | Artículo científico |
| Language: | en |
| Published: |
Universidad Autónoma de Baja California
2015
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| Online Access: | https://www.redalyc.org/articulo.oa?id=48039202007 |
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Table of Contents:
- Nutrient input from the Colorado River to the northern Gulf of California is not required to maintain a productive pelagic ecosystem Mario Rafael Ramírez-León Saúl Álvarez-Borrego Cuauhtémoc Turrent Thompson Gilberto Gaxiola Castro Gisela Heckel Dziendzielewski Ciencias de la Tierra primary production Phytoplankton biomass northern Gulf of C alifornia The high phytoplankton production (PP) of the northern Gulf of California (NGC) supports a rich biodiversity and fisheries wi th high yields. The NGC is the habitat of the vaquita ( Phocoena sinus ), the cetacean most at risk of extinction in the world. The ob jective of this study is to demonstrate that the NGC is a healthy system at the level of primary producers desp ite the lack of nutrient input from the Colorado River, and that the small size o f the vaquita population is not attributable the collapse of its pelagic ecosystem. Informatio n derived from satellite sensors (CZCS, SeaWiFS , and Aqua-MODIS) was used to e xplore the possibility of a negati ve tendency in phytoplankton biomass and PP in the NGC during the last ~35 years. Temporal and spatial v ariations in sea surface temperature (SST sat ), chlorophyll concentration (Chl sat ), and PP were analyzed. Times serie s were generated for four coas tal quadrants, two in the western part and two in the eastern p art of the NGC. The NW quadrant covers the vaqu ita habitat, and it had higher C hl sat and PP values than the others. T his may be due to advection of turbid Upper Gulf waters into the NW quadrant. Semiannua l and interann ual changes in Chl sat and PP occurred, but the sea sonal signal was dominant in the whole region. SST sat maxima occurred in August and Se ptember (30–31 ºC) and minima i n January and February (16–17 ºC). Chl sat and PP maxima were recorded in March and April (2–3 mg m –3 , 2–3 g C m –2 day –1 , respectively) and minima in August and September (0.2–0.9 mg m –3 , 0.5–1.1 g C m –2 day –1 , respectively). These values indicate that the pelagic ecosyst em of the NGC is very productive (mesotrophic in summer-autumn and eutrophic in winter-spring). 2015 artículo científico 0185-3880 https://www.redalyc.org/articulo.oa?id=48039202007 en http://www.redalyc.org/revista.oa?id=480 Ciencias Marinas application/pdf Universidad Autónoma de Baja California Ciencias Marinas (México) Num.2 Vol.41