Dr. Barbara Block Lab - Stanford Hopkins
Description: The Blue Serengeti is a rich and diverse ecosystem off the West Coast of North America, uncovered through the Tagging of Pacific Predators (TOPP) research program.
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Overexploitation of living resources is one of humanity’s most pervasive global impacts. The removal of top predators by humans has led to disruption of ecosystem services around the globe. Removal of these animals from marine ecosystems re-shapes the entire structure of ocean food webs, affecting organisms at all trophic levels.
One remarkable exception appears to be the California Current, the large marine ecosystem off North America’s western shores. Here, where upwelling brings nutrient-rich currents, and long-term oceanic cycles have produced highly variable conditions, we have a community with a high level of natural resilience, able to withstand ecosystem perturbations such as climate variation.
This rich ecosystem teems with sharks, seals, tunas, whales, albatross and sea turtles. The Tagging of Pacific Predators program (TOPP), part of the global Census of Marine Life, invested $25 million in electronic tagging, enabling marine scientists from 5 nations to map the ocean hotspots within this valuable habitat.
Dr. Barbara Block Lab - Stanford Hopkins