Marine Ecology Progress Series
MEPS is a leading hybrid research journal on all aspects of marine, coastal and estuarine ecology. Priority is given to outstanding research that advances our ecological understanding.
Impact Factor2.1 (JCR 2025 release)
Article Acceptance Rate52.2% (2024)
Average Time in Review216 days (2024)
Total Annual Downloads2.730.029 (2025)
DOI: https://doi.org/10.3354/meps12567
copiedNon-stationary responses in anchovy (Engraulis encrasicolus) recruitment to coastal upwelling in the Southern Benguela
- Peter van der Sleen
- Ryan R. Rykaczewski
- Brendan D. Turley
- William J. Sydeman
- Marisol García-Reyes
- Steven J. Bograd
- Carl D. van der Lingen
- Janet C. Coetzee
- Tarron Lamont
- Bryan A. Black
ABSTRACT: Anchovy Engraulis encrasicolus is economically important and ecologically critical to the structure and function of the Benguela Current ecosystem, as it transfers energy from plankton to piscivorous fishes, seabirds, and marine mammals. Like other small pelagic fishes, annual recruitment strength varies substantially, but the drivers of these fluctuations are not well understood. To address this issue, we investigated the relationship between 30 yr of anchovy recruitment estimates derived from acoustic survey data and a new coastal upwelling index for the Southern Benguela defined as the monthly sum of offshore Ekman transport over the region 29-36°S. Cumulative December-March upwelling was significantly and positively related to recruitment, and this relationship was improved by integrating the upwelling index over multiple years (i.e. adding autocorrelation). A threshold-generalized additive model further showed that the slope of the linear regression between integrated upwelling and recruitment increased when anchovy spawner biomass on the west coast of South Africa in the preceding year exceeded ~0.74 million tonnes. By combining these 2 simple linear regressions into a single model, we were able to account for 82% of the variability in anchovy recruitment from 1985 to 2014. The biomass threshold in the upwelling-recruitment relationship could relate to the presence of a strong spawner-recruit relationship, or to a shift in the dominant driver of recruitment variability as adult biomass increases, such as effective transport of eggs, larvae retention in coastal habitats, and primary productivity.
KEYWORDS
Peter van der Sleen (Corresponding Author)
- Marine Science Institute, University of Texas at Austin, 750 Channel View Drive, Port Aransas, TX 78373, USA
- Department of Wetland Ecology, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, Josefstrasse 1, 76437 Rastatt, Germany
Ryan R. Rykaczewski (Co-author)
- Department of Biological Sciences and Marine Science Program, University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC 29208, USA
Brendan D. Turley (Co-author)
- Department of Biological Sciences and Marine Science Program, University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC 29208, USA
William J. Sydeman (Co-author)
- Farallon Institute, 101 H Street, Suite Q, Petaluma, CA 94952, USA
Marisol García-Reyes (Co-author)
- Farallon Institute, 101 H Street, Suite Q, Petaluma, CA 94952, USA
Steven J. Bograd (Co-author)
- NOAA, Southwest Fisheries Science Center, Environmental Research Division, 99 Pacific Street, Suite 255A, Monterey, CA 93940, USA
Carl D. van der Lingen (Co-author)
- Fisheries Management Branch, Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, Private Bag X2, Vlaeberg 8018, South Africa
- Marine Research Institute and Department of Biological Sciences, University of Cape Town, Private Bag X3, Rondebosch 7700, South Africa
Janet C. Coetzee (Co-author)
- Fisheries Management Branch, Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, Private Bag X2, Vlaeberg 8018, South Africa
Tarron Lamont (Co-author)
- Marine Research Institute and Department of Biological Sciences, University of Cape Town, Private Bag X3, Rondebosch 7700, South Africa
- Oceans & Coasts Research Branch, Department of Environmental Affairs, Private Bag X4390, Cape Town 8000, South Africa
Bryan A. Black (Co-author)
- Marine Science Institute, University of Texas at Austin, 750 Channel View Drive, Port Aransas, TX 78373, USA