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Seasonality

Shifting seasonal cycles: Rebecca Asch completes fellowship

In spring, as the plant buds push up through the ground and the days get warmer and longer, the baby salmon fry hatch out of their eggs and start swimming and feeding. At this time, their food – phytoplankton – should also bloom. But due to climate change-induced warming, the fry of many fishes, such as salmon, are coming out earlier or later, as are the phytoplankton blooms, which can cause a mismatch between when the food is available and when the fry need it.

Fish of the day: Why does seafood seasonality matter?

By Wilf Swartz, Nereus Program Manager/Research Associate

Japanese call it shun (旬), the seasonality of food. It refers to the time of year when a specific type of food is at its peak, either in terms of harvest or flavour. It is not unique to Japanese culture, as The Byrds reminded us in the mid-1960s with their, now classic, rendition of “Turn! Turn! Turn! (to Everything There Is a Season).”

Rebecca Asch gives lecture on climate change and seasonality in the oceans

Climate change is resulting in the earlier arrival of spring conditions in many ecosystems around the world. Rebecca Asch, Nereus Fellow (Princeton), gave a lecture at Wellesley College, USA, on November 13 entitled “Climate Change and Seasonality in the Oceans: How will Changing Seasonal Cycles Affect Marine Food Webs?” This was an invited talk sponsored by the Department of Biological Sciences.