Global Ecological Consequences of the 1982-83 El Niño-Southern Oscillation

P.W. Glynn

• Publisher: Elsevier Science
• Year: 1990
• Print ISBN:
  9780444883032
• eBook ISBN:
  9780080870908
• Topic: Biological Sciences
• Subtopic: Ecology
• Index: Biological Sciences

El Niño is a meteorologic/oceanographic phenomenon that occurs sporadically (every few years) at low latitudes. It is felt particularly strongly in the eastern Pacific region, notably from the equator southwards along the coasts of Ecuador and Peru. The El Niño is a component of the ENSO (El Niño Southern Oscillation) which accentuates the intimate and causal connection between atmospheric and marine processes. Obvious manifestations of El Niño in the eastern Pacific are anomalous warming of the sea; reduced upwelling; a marked decline in fisheries, and high rainfall with frequent flooding.The 1982/83 El Niño was exceptionally severe, and was probably the strongest warming of the equatorial Pacific Ocean to occur during this century. The warming was intense and spread over large parts of the Pacific Ocean and penetrated to greater depths than usual. Many eastern Pacific coral reefs that had exhibited uninterrupted growth for several hundred years until 1983 were devasted by the disturbance and are now in an erosional mode. Marine species were adversely affected. The consequent depletion of the plant food base resulted in significant reductions in stocks of fish, squid etc. This led to a mass migration and near-total reproductive failure of marine birds at Christmas Island.Emphasis in this volume is placed on disturbances to benthic communities; littoral populations; terrestrial communities and extratropical regions.

Table of contents

• Front Cover
• Global Ecological Consequences of the 1982–83 El Nino–Southern Oscillation
• Copyright Page⤀
• Contents
• Preface and Acknowledgements
• List of Contributors
• CHAPTER 1. PHYSICAL ASPECTS OF THE EL NIÑO EVENT OF 1982–1983
• CHAPTER 2. NUTRIENTS AND PRODUCTIVITY DURING THE 1982/83 EL NIÑO
• CHAPTER 3. CORAL MORTALITY AND DISTURBANCES TO CORAL REEFS IN THE TROPICAL EASTERN PACIFIC
• CHAPTER 4. THE EFFECTS OF THE EL NIÑO/SOUTHERN OSCILLATION ON THE DISPERSAL OF CORALS AND OTHER MARINE ORGANISMS
• CHAPTER 5. CORAL MORTALITY OUTSIDE OF THE EASTERN PACIFIC DURING 1982–1983: RELATIONSHIP TO EL NIÑO
• CHAPTER 6. EL NIÑO AND THE HISTORY OF EASTERN PACIFIC REEF BUILDING
• CHAPTER 7. REEF-BUILDING CORALS AND IDENTIFICATION OF ENSO WARMING EPISODES
• CHAPTER 8. TRACE ELEMENT INDICATORS OF CLIMATE VARIABILITY IN REEF-BUILDING CORALS
• CHAPTER 9. HISTORICAL ASPECTS OF EL NIÑO/SOUTHERN OSCILLATION - INFORMATION FROM TREE RINGS
• CHAPTER 10. EFFECTS OF EL NIÑO 1982–83 ON BENTHOS, FISH AND FISHERIES OFF THE SOUTH AMERICAN PACIFIC COAST
• CHAPTER 11. EFFECTS OF THE 1982–83 EL NIÑO-SOUTHERN OSCILLATION EVENT ON MARINE IGUANA (AMBLYRHYNCHUS CRISTATUS BELL, 1825) POPULATIONS ON GALAPAGOS
• CHAPTER 12. THE GULF OF PANAMA AND EL NIÑO EVENTS: THE FATE OF TWO REFUGEE BOOBIES FROM THE 1982–83 EVENT
• CHAPTER 13. SEABIRDS AND THE 1982–1984 EL NIÑO/SOUTHERN OSCILLATION
• CHAPTER 14. EL NIÑO EFFECT ON SOUTH AMERICAN PINNIPED SPECIES
• CHAPTER 15. BOTTOMS BENEATH TROUBLED WATERS: BENTHIC IMPACTS OF THE 1982–1984 EL NIÑO IN THE TEMPERATE ZONE
• CHAPTER 16. THE IMPACT OF THE "EL NIÑO" DROUGHT OF 1982–83 ON A PANAMANIAN SEMIDECIDUOUS FOREST
• CHAPTER 17. THE BOTANICAL RESPONSE ON THE ATACAMA AND PERUVIAN DESERT FLORAS TO THE 1982–83 EL NINO EVENT
• CHAPTER 18. AN ECOLOGICAL CRISIS IN AN EVOLUTIONARY CONTEXT: EL NIÑO IN THE EASTERN PACIFIC
• INDICES
• Erratum