Dramatic declines in Euphausia pacifica abundance in the East China Sea: response to recent regional climate change.

As with other marine ecosystems around the world, water temperature has been anomalously warm in recent years in the East China Sea. We analyzed historical data to explore the effects of climatic change on the abundance and distribution variation of Euphausia pacifica in the East China Sea (the Changjiang River estuary and adjacent areas). In 1959, the highest abundance occurred in the spring and autumn, and this krill species was still abundant in May 1974; however, its abundance was significantly reduced in 2002, markedly in spring. Euphausia pacifica was the numerically dominant euphausiid in the East China Sea in 1959. Its mean abundance was up to 1.91 ind m(-3) and 1.64 ind/m(3) in 1959 and 1974, respectively; however, this figure decreased to 0.36 ind m(-3) in 2002. Since 2003, the abundances have been near zero in the most years. Both inter-annual (between November 1959 and 2002) and inter-monthly (between May and June 1959) comparisons suggest that E. pacifica has had a temperature-driven northward movement in response to rising sea surface temperature, especially the positive anomalies since 1997. However, E. pacifica did not come back to the previous habitat when temperature became relative cold. Hence additional factors affecting the E. pacifica distribution and abundance need to be investigated in the future study.