Herring key food for land-based species: study
January 11, 2014
“We often talk about how salmon subsidize and influence ecosystems by providing food but herring are also one of these species — and we have them in abundance,” said Caroline Fox, the lead researcher on a study released by the Raincoast Conservation Foundation and the University of Victoria. After a worrisome decline, herring stocks look to be bouncing back.
While the effects of herring on marine life have been studied, scientists haven’t really looked at what happens in other ecosystems when waves of eggs wash ashore during spawning.
“It is a spectacular natural event,” Fox said, describing a milky wave of fish sperm that fertilize eggs on gravel, beach and kelp beds, with birds flocking to feed…
To read the full article please visit the Times Colonist website.
You can help
Raincoast’s in-house scientists, collaborating graduate students, postdoctoral fellows, and professors make us unique among conservation groups. We work with First Nations, academic institutions, government, and other NGOs to build support and inform decisions that protect aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems, and the wildlife that depend on them. We conduct ethically applied, process-oriented, and hypothesis-driven research that has immediate and relevant utility for conservation deliberations and the collective body of scientific knowledge.
We investigate to understand coastal species and processes. We inform by bringing science to decision-makers and communities. We inspire action to protect wildlife and wildlife habitats.