Oil platforms off California are among the most productive marine fish habitats globally.

ABSTRACT: Secondary (i.e., heterotrophic or animal) production is a main pathway of energy flow through an ecosystem as it makes energy available to consumers, including humans. Its estimation can play a valuable role in the examination of linkages between ecosystem functions and services. We found that oil and gas platforms off the coast of California have the highest secondary fish production per unit area of seafloor of any marine habitat that has been studied, about an order of magnitude higher than fish communities from other marine ecosystems. Most previous estimates have come from estuarine environments, generally regarded as one of the most productive ecosystems globally. High rates of fish production on these platforms ultimately result from high levels of recruitment and the subsequent gro

SUBMITTER: Claisse JT 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4217422 | biostudies-literature | 2014 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature