Science Source
Kenneth A. Rose, Sean Creekmore, Dubravko Justić, Peter Thomas, J. Kevin Craig, Rachael Miller Neilan, Lixia Wang, Md Saydur Rahman, David Kidwell
Estuaries and Coasts
Published date June 22, 2017

Modeling the Population Effects of Hypoxia on Atlantic Croaker (Micropogonias undulatus) in the Northwestern Gulf of Mexico: Part 2—Realistic Hypoxia and Eutrophication

  • Part 1 described an individual-based population model (IBM) for Atlantic croaker in the northwestern Gulf of Mexico (NWGOM) designed to quantify the long-term population responses to low dissolved oxygen (DO) concentrations during the summer
  • Part 2 replaces the idealized hypoxia conditions with realistic DO concentrations generated from a 3-dimensional water quality model
  • Finds that direct mortality on benthos (the flora and fauna found on the sea floor) had no effect on long-term simulated croaker abundance, and the effect of hypoxia (about a 25% reduction in abundance) was consistent whether chlorophyll (food) varied with hypoxia or not
  • Concludes with a discussion of why the authors consider the simulation-based estimates of hypoxia causing a 25% reduction the long-term population abundance of croaker in the NWGOM to be realistic and robust

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