Overview
The California Current ecosystem is controlled from the bottom-up, and physical processes that influence primary productivity, such as ocean circulation, sea surface temperature, and upwelling patterns, are vitally important for its overall productivity. Climate and ocean "drivers" that influence the ecosystem cannot be controlled, but the influence of changing climate on the ecosystem can be planned and accounted for in various management contexts.
Indicator Status and Trends
We identified nine broad groups of climatic and oceanographic pressures in the ecosystem, evaluated indicators for each of these pressures using an indicator selection framework (Kershner et al. 2011; Levin and Schwing 2011), and then developed and analyzed time-series for the top indicators associated with each pressure.