The demographic decline of a sea lion population followed multi-decadal sea surface warming.

ABSTRACT: The population growth of top predators depends largely on environmental conditions suitable for aggregating sufficient and high-quality prey. We reconstructed numerically the size of a resident population of California sea lions in the Gulf of California during 1978-2019 and its relation with multi-decadal sea surface temperature anomalies. This is the first multi-decadal examination of the sea surface temperature of the Gulf of California and of one of its major predators. A three-decade sustained warming explained the population's trend accounting for 92% of the variance, including a 65% decline between 1991 and 2019. Long-term warming conditions started in the late 80s, followed by the population's decline from 43,834 animals (range 34,080-58,274) in 1991 to only 15,291 (range 11,861-20

SUBMITTER: Adame K 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7320179 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature