Related Experiment Video
Updated: Aug 29, 2025
07:16
Thermal Limits Determination for Zooplankton Using a Heat Block
Published on: November 18, 2022
1.4K
El Niño frequency threshold controls coastal biotic communities.
Jack M Broughton1, Brian F Codding1, J Tyler Faith1,2,3
1Department of Anthropology and Archaeological Center, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT, USA.
Science (New York, N.Y.)
|September 8, 2022
Summary
El Niño events significantly alter vertebrate communities over long timescales. A key tipping point for faunal restructuring in coastal ecosystems occurs when major El Niño events happen more than five times per century.
Area of Science:
- Paleoecology
- Climate Science
- Zoology
Background:
- El Niño profoundly influences ecosystem dynamics.
- Understanding long-term impacts on vertebrate communities is limited.
- Forecasting future changes requires knowledge of centennial-scale responses.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate how El Niño shapes vertebrate faunal community composition over centennial timescales.
- To identify thresholds for faunal restructuring in response to El Niño frequency.
Main Methods:
- Correlated geological records of past El Niño frequency with species composition of bird and fish remains.
- Analyzed a Baja California bone deposit spanning the last 12,000 years.
Main Results:
- Documented marked faunal restructuring linked to El Niño events.
- Identified a tipping point at over five major El Niño events per century.
Conclusions:
- El Niño's frequency is a critical factor in vertebrate community composition.
- The identified tipping point has significant implications for eastern Pacific coastal environments.
- Findings aid in forecasting ecological changes under future El Niño projections.
More Related Videos
Related Concept Videos
02:26Ecological Disturbance
17.4K
An ecological disturbance is a temporary disruption in the environment resulting from abiotic, biotic, or anthropogenic factors, causing a pronounced change in an ecosystem. The impact of an ecological disturbance, which can depend on its intensity, frequency, and spatial distribution, plays a significant role in shaping the species diversity within the ecosystem.
17.4K
01:21Frequency-dependent Selection
22.2K
When the fitness of a trait is influenced by how common it is (i.e., its frequency) relative to different traits within a population, this is referred to as frequency-dependent selection. Frequency-dependent selection may occur between species or within a single species. This type of selection can either be positive—with more common phenotypes having higher fitness—or negative, with rarer phenotypes conferring increased fitness.
22.2K
01:11Testing a Claim about Mean: Known Population SD
2.8K
A complete procedure of testing the hypothesis about a population mean is explained here.
Estimating a population mean requires the samples to be distributed normally. The data should be collected from the randomly selected samples having no sampling bias. The sample size needed to be higher than 30, and most importantly, the population standard deviation should be already known.
In most realistic situations, the population standard deviation is often unknown, but in rare circumstances, when it...
Estimating a population mean requires the samples to be distributed normally. The data should be collected from the randomly selected samples having no sampling bias. The sample size needed to be higher than 30, and most importantly, the population standard deviation should be already known.
In most realistic situations, the population standard deviation is often unknown, but in rare circumstances, when it...
2.8K
01:17What is an Ecosystem?
40.3K
Overview
40.3K
01:06Primary Production
23.8K
The total amount of energy acquired by primary producers in an ecosystem is called gross primary production (GPP). However, of this energy, producers use some for metabolic processes, and some is lost as heat, decreasing the amount of energy available to the next trophic level. The remaining usable amount of energy is called the net primary productivity (NPP). In terrestrial ecosystems, NPP is driven by climate, while light penetration and nutrient availability drive NPP in aquatic ecosystems.
23.8K
01:38Limits to Natural Selection
31.7K
Organisms that are well-adapted to their environment are more likely to survive and reproduce. However, natural selection does not lead to perfectly adapted organisms. Several factors constrain natural selection.
31.7K