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Pacific sand lance Ammodytes personatus are a key forage fish in the North Pacific for many species of salmon, groundfish, seabirds, and marine mammals and have historically been important to predators in relatively warm years. However, extreme declines in the nutritional value of sand lance in Prince William Sound, Alaska, USA, during 2012–2016 indicate that energy transfer from lower trophic levels to predators via sand lance may have been disrupted during the North Pacific marine heatwave in 2015 and 2016. Nutritional value (length, energy density, and whole-body energy) was measured in age-0 and age-1 sand lance collected during July in cool (2012–2013) and increasingly warm (2014–2016) years. The value of age-0 fish was relatively stable, with only minor differences among years for length and whole-body energy. By contrast, the value of age-1 fish significantly declined in 2015, and by 2016 they were 38% shorter and 13% lower in energy density compared to cooler years. This contributed to significant declines in whole-body energy of 44% in 2015 and 89% in 2016 compared to cooler years (2012–2014). The 2015 sand lance cohort experienced little growth or lipid accumulation from July 2015 at age-0 to July 2016 at age-1. This effective disruption of energy flow through pelagic food webs probably contributed to population declines and/or breeding failures observed among several predators in the Gulf of Alaska and suggests that tipping points were reached during the heatwave.

Aim Ecological “bright spots” remain resilient following climate events such as marine heatwaves. One explanation for resilience is that small‐scale variability in ocean temperature sustains cooler areas that emerge as local bright spots. In cases where foundational species like kelp thrive through marine heatwaves, the species that rely on kelp for habitat and food also benefit. Here, we test the effect of temperature and habitat loss across both space and time on marine invertebrate communities. Location The Channel Islands National Park in Southern California. Methods We use 25 years (1995–2019) of the National Park Service Kelp Forest Monitoring program surveys, focusing on permanent transects at 16 sites (including some within marine protected areas) that recorded the abundance of 30 kelp forest invertebrates, and include two major marine heatwave events (1997–1998 El Niño event and 2014–2016 combined “Blob” and El Niño event). We examine the effect of local in situ temperature and kelp cover on local diversity and drivers of abrupt diversity changes within the invertebrate communities. Results Sites with more kelp cover and lower local temperatures supported more even invertebrate communities. Additionally, we show evidence of a major state shift within the invertebrate communities during the “Blob” event where local ocean temperatures at surveyed sites better predicted the presence of species density shifts than kelp cover did. Cooler sites underwent more abrupt changes in invertebrate abundance, with these changes resulting in increases of warm‐affinity urchin species that prevented kelp recovery after the “Blob” resided. Main Conclusions We show that changes in kelp forest communities did not occur gradually, but through abrupt invertebrate abundance shifts even in protected areas. Contrary to expectations, we found some species benefitted from marine heatwaves, highlighting the importance of examining species‐specific responses in improving our understanding of how communities respond to environmental changes and marine heatwaves.

Nonbreeding distributions and migratory phenology can vary within and among populations of many taxa, including seabirds. Such differences can drive variation in survival and reproduction. Knowledge of where, when, and why individuals move is therefore crucial to understanding and predicting population-level processes, particularly in the context of oceanographic change. Here we present the first year-round tracking data for Cassin’s auklet Ptychoramphus aleuticus, a small, zooplanktivorous North Pacific seabird, revealing the nonbreeding behavior of birds from colonies in British Columbia, Canada, across 3 years of variable oceanographic conditions. These birds moved both north (summer, fall) and south (fall, winter) from the colony, using 1 of 4 migratory tactics: North, South, North-South, or Local. Distributions ranged from the Aleutian Islands to Baja California, to maximum distances of 2757 and 3110 km, respectively. Within tactics there was additional spatiotemporal variation among individuals, resulting in diverse nonbreeding experiences. Some variability was explained by year and sex. Cassin’s auklets appear to target distinct, ecologically differentiated areas within their nonbreeding range which may have good quality habitat. Variation in these target regions across years suggests somewhat flexible migratory behavior; however, consistent migration to the Southern California Bight despite very low productivity in one study year suggests that fixed tactics may exist. This work contributes to our understanding of predator movement in the North Pacific and highlights the importance of individual-level spatial data for studies of carryover effects and conservation planning.

How science fiction films in the 1950s were marketed and helped create the broader genre itself. For Hollywood, the golden age of science fiction was also an age of anxiety. Amid rising competition, fluid audience habits, and increasing government regulation, studios of the 1950s struggled to make and sell the kinds of films that once were surefire winners. These conditions, the leading media scholar J. P. Telotte argues, catalyzed the incredible rise of science fiction. Though science fiction films had existed since the earliest days of cinema, the SF genre as a whole continued to resist easy definition through the 1950s. In grappling with this developing genre, the industry began to consider new marketing approaches that viewed films as fluid texts and audiences as ever-changing. Drawing on trade reports, film reviews, pressbooks, trailers, and other archival materials, Selling Science Fiction Cinema reconstructs studio efforts to market a promising new genre and, in the process, shows how salesmanship influenced what that genre would become. Telotte uses such films as The Thing from Another World , Forbidden Planet , and The Blob , as well as the influx of Japanese monster movies, to explore the shifting ways in which the industry reframed the SF genre to market to no-longer static audience expectations. Science fiction transformed the way Hollywood does business, just as Hollywood transformed the meaning of science fiction.

Bahia Magdalena is a coastal lagoon located in the Pacific coast of Baja California, a transitional zone between tropical and temperate regions. Its biological and fishing richness is enormous. The objective of this work was to determine the impact of the unusual and consecutive warming events knows as The Blob (TB2013-2015) and 2015-2016 El Niño on the hydrological characteristics and plankton communities, the lower levels of the trophic web. The changes we observed strongly suggested that the warming caused by those phenomena did affect the hydrology and phyto and zooplankton communities. This study included analyses of environmental and biological variables measured in situ and with MODIS-Aqua satellite images, from January 2015 to December 2017. In 2015, the air temperature was very high, upwelling strength decreased and temperature, salinity and water density showed the tropical influence. Additionally, the percentage of oxygen saturation and the nutrients and chlorophyll-a (Chl-a) concentrations were low and showed intra-annual variations different to usual. By April 2015, the chain-forming diatom Eucampia zodiacus bloomed, and we did not record an autumn bloom, but Chl-a fluorescence suggested that smaller phytoplankton fractions were predominant in that season. Zooplankton biomass (ZB) was lower since the second semester of 2015 and showed a negative trend until 2017. Relatively low percentages of dead zooplankton (%ZD) were also recorded. In 2016, when El Niño declined, and the ENSO cold phase (La Niña) started, there were an enhancing of upwellings, nutrients, and Chl-a concentrations. Blooms of diatoms occurred in spring and autumn (Guinardia/Rhizosolenia), whereas the ZB remained low, but %ZD was very high. La Niña finished in 2017, and in contrast to previous years, the upwelling's phenology was close to 1967-2010 average, and upwelling strength increased. Therefore, its rich-nutrients waters input caused several diatoms blooms, whereas ZB remained scarce.

In 2014, an unexpected and unusual warm patch of ocean water was discovered in the northeast Pacific Ocean (PO) that moved south, reaching the Mexican coasts; this patch, returning in 2019, was nicknamed \"the Blob\". This paper aimed to assess the impacts of this phenomenon on the sea surface temperature (SST) and chlorophyll-a (CHLA) levels in the Gulf of California (GC), a high-productivity region. Daily satellite images of SST and CHLA with a spatial resolution of 1 km/pixel were obtained for 2014, 2017, and 2019 from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS). Two disc-shaped areas of around 25 km in diameter were selected in the southern portion of the GC to assess the variability of both parameters quantitatively. An additional site was selected in the PO for comparison and, thus, to better characterize and have a complete vision of these events. The results showed that in the PO, during the periods in which the Blob occurred, the SST values were higher concerning the neutral year (2017), and the levels of CHLA were very low (barely 0.15 mg m-3). Within the GC, the results showed the presence of a strong seasonal variability, with maximum values of SST (>30°C) and the lowest concentrations of CHLA (<2 mg m-3) during the summer, with maximum concentrations of CHLA (~10 mg m-3) observed during the winter months. Contrary to expectations, no dramatic changes in SST and CHLA were observed during the years impacted by the Blob. This apparent absence of negative impacts could be related to different mechanisms in the gulf that \"protect\" to avoid climate disruptions. The presence of complex geomorphology and hydrodynamic processes at different scales induce mixing and fertilizing of the euphotic layer. Could these factors protect the southern gulf from the negative impacts of the Blob?

To date, there is limited knowledge of the effects that abnormal sea surface temperature (SST) can have on the physiology of neonate pinnipeds. However, maternal nutritional deficiencies driven by alimentary restrictions would expectedly impact pinniped development and fitness, as an adequate supply of nutrients is essential for growth and proper functioning of all body systems, including red blood cell synthesis and clearance. Here, we investigated red blood cell morphology of California sea lion (CSL) pups from the San Benito Archipelago born during the 2014 and 2015 anomalously high SST events recorded in the northeastern Pacific Ocean. We examined whether atypical erythrocyte morphologies were more common in 2015, when the high SST event was more pronounced, and whether the stable isotope signature of pup fur, as an indicator of maternal feeding strategies, accounted for the number of atypical cells. Various atypical erythrocyte morphologies were more prevalent and more abundant than reference values. Evidence of iron deficiency was found in both years, and only pups born in 2014 showed evidence of active erythropoiesis. Microcytes and reticulocytes were more common in pups with higher isotopic δ 13C and lower δ 15N values, suggesting a probable relationship between maternal feeding strategies and the effect of climatic anomalies on red blood cell physiology of their pups. As developing pinnipeds require increased oxygen storage capacity for diving and foraging, the presence of atypical erythrocytes could be relevant to CSL pup fitness if the underlying cause is not reverted. This study is a first step to explore the effects that climatic alterations in the marine environment can have on the blood physiology of developing individuals.

Sediment traps were deployed at 50 m depth in Douglas Channel, a fjord on the west coast of Canada, for 3 years (July 2013–July 2016). Particle flux was related to rain, freshwater discharge, and phytoplankton blooms. The North Pacific warm water anomaly (known popularly as the Blob) reached coastal waters during the second year of deployment, resulting in more autumn rain and less snow than during the other 2 years. The maximum particle flux was associated with the snowfed river freshet in May during the first year and with heavy October rains during the second and third years. A protracted sedimentation event consisting of copious diatoms occurred during the warm, second winter (December 2014–February 2015). Silica (empty diatom frustules) was exported, intercepting silicate from local rivers that might otherwise have reached the outer shelf. The effects of extreme climate events are experienced differently inshore than offshore, because they are mediated by local hydrology. During the Blob year, Douglas Channel experienced exceptionally high rainfall in October, which resulted in high particle flux. As the climate continues to warm, mild, rainy years like 2014–2015 will become more common, with the possibility of further winter blooms.

The paper asks why and how it was possible to redesign established positions and priorities of US foreign policy during the first 2 years of Donald Trump’s presidency. The paper applies a neo-classical realist foreign policy framework focusing on four variables: the perceptions of the foreign policy executive, the strategic culture of the USA, state–society relations in the Trump era and finally the role of domestic government institutions. The paper concludes that the Trump administration after 2 and a half years in power had removed a number of obstacles to pursue a unilateral foreign policy placing America first. Trump and his administration were able to present, announce and launch a remarkable number of policy initiatives breaking with established foreign policy priorities of the USA. Not all announced policies were implemented by the mid-2019. But, the road ahead was open.

Abstract ‘The Blob’, a mass of anomalously warm water in the Northeast Pacific Ocean peaking from 2014 to 2016, caused a decrease in primary productivity with cascading effects on the marine ecosystem. Among the more obvious manifestations of the event were seabird breeding failures and mass mortality events. Here, we used corticosterone in breast feathers (fCort), grown in the winter period during migration, as an indicator of nutritional stress to investigate the impact of the Blob on two sentinel Pacific auk species (family Alcidae). Feathers were collected from breeding females over 8 years from 2010 to 2017, encompassing the Blob period. Since Pacific auks replace body feathers at sea during the migratory period, measures of fCort provide an accumulated measure of nutritional stress or allostatic load during this time. Changes in diet were also measured using δ15N and δ13C values from feathers. Relative to years prior to the Blob, the primarily zooplanktivorous Cassin’s auklets (Ptychoramphus aleuticus) had elevated fCort in 2014–2017, which correlated with the occurrence of the Blob and a recovery period afterwards, with relatively stable feather isotope values. In contrast, generalist rhinoceros auklets (Cerorhinca monocerata) displayed stable fCort values across years and increased δ15N values during the Blob. As marine heatwaves increase in intensity and frequency due to climate change, this study provides insight into the variable response of Pacific auks to such phenomena and suggests a means for monitoring population-level responses to climatological variation.