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Overview
The following modules and analyses provide users mechanisms to explore the historical changes in species range and distribution through time to the present. See below for descriptions of the modules. Then, use the icons on the left pane to navigate to each module and start MAP-ing!
Species Persistence
Users can see which taxa appear in regional surveys, and how the amount of each taxa caught (biomass in wtcpue) is changing across survey years. This analysis can provide current and historical context to the range of a specific species or stock, illustrating their long-term distribution patterns. Understanding species gains and losses in a region can also provide early warnings of potential emerging species in a region and of changes in community assemblages. For this module, data is harnessed from regional surveys* and filtered to include taxa that are sampled in at least 5% of tows in at least two survey years**.
Single Species Shift
Users can visualize the interpolated biomass distribution of a single species and how it changes over time. Shifts in the distributions are measured as change in latitude and change in depth. Capturing these shifts of particular stocks can have significant impacts on management decisions, particularly in a changing environment. For this module, data is harnessed from regional surveys* and filtered to include taxa that are sampled in at least 5% of tows in at least 3/4th of all survey years**.
Regional Shift Summary
Users can explore several key metrics of how communities are changing over time and space (e.g., species richness, average change in latitude and depth). As species distributions respond to many environmental and biological factors, tracking changes at the community level allows for a more complete picture of the general trends in marine species distributions in a region. For this module, data is harnessed from regional surveys* and filtered to include taxa that are sampled in at least 5% of tows in all survey years**.
*See links to regional datasets in the âInfoâ window located in the upper left corner of the portal.
**See the Technical Document, metadata, and our github repository for more information on how survey data are processed for this portal.
Single Species Shift
MSA
PA
Regional Shift Summary
Use this module to explore the aggregate change in location (i.e. latitude and depth) of marine species caught in a survey at a regional level, by selecting a regional dataset below. Interpolated (predicted) species richness layers will be displayed on the map, representing the predicted number of species to be caught in a survey at each grid location. Time-series graphs of the key distribution indicators (e.g. change in latitude, depth) will display in the panel below.
Gulf of Mexico to Gulf of America name change
Select Season:
The graphs below show the annual change in the latitude and depth averaged across species that are caught every year in the selected survey dataset
Change in Average LatitudeThe annual change in latitude averaged across a core set of species caught every year in the survey. This indicator is calculated by first calculating the difference between each year's average latitude and that of the starting year for each species, and then averaging the differences across species in a region.
On average species in region have moved Xkm north/south from XXXX-XXXX to YYYY-YYYY.
Negative values indicate that the species are moving south, and positive values indicate that the species are moving north
Change in Average Depth
The annual change in depth averaged across a core set of species caught every year in the survey. This indicator is calculated by first calculating the difference between each year's average depth and that of the starting year for each species, and then averaging the differences across species in a region.
On average species in region have moved Xkm deeper/shallower from XXXX-XXXX to YYYY-YYYY.
Negative values indicate that the species are moving deeper, and positive values indicate that the species are moving shallower
The table below summarizes the change in latitude, and depth for all species included in the regional average calculations above.
