EXXON VALDEZ Oil Spill Restoration Project Final Report. Pacific Herring211 Productivity Dependencies in the Prince William Sound Ecosystem Determined with 211 Natural Stable Isotope Tracers (Restoration Project 98311)

摘要

A surprising finding of the Sound Ecosystem Assessment (SEA) Project was that211u001ePrince William Sound (PWS) herring and other fishes have significant dependence 211u001eupon organic carbon, generated in the Gulf of Alaska (GOA) rather than PWS. The 211u001eadvective regime connecting the northern GOA with PWS may affect recruitment and 211u001enutritional processes in Pacific herring. This project was the first step to 211u001ebetter understanding of this fundamental environmental process by analyzing 211u001eisotopically a time series of herring. Objective (1) to analyze archived samples 211u001ethat had been collected from spring 1996 onwards at fours bays selected by Dr. 211u001eBrenda Norcross (UAF). Objective (2) to analyze new samples as they become 211u001eavailable following energetic content determination by Dr. A.J. Paul (Seward 211u001eMarine Center) eventually to complete a 1995-1998 time series. Objective (3) 211u001esynthesize data; objective (4) disseminate results. Analysis of samples from May 211u001e1995 enabling a partial filling in of the data gap between fall 1994 and fall 211u001e1995 was added as objective (5) during the course of the project. Isotope data 211u001ewas contributed to the SEA herring synthesis paper (Norcross et al.) and was used 211u001eto calculation of protein and lipid content in the SEA herring over-winter 211u001emodeling paper (Patrick et al.).