Demersal and pelagic fish
Changes in community biomass were solely analyzed for the demersal part
of the fish community. However, higher proportions of pelagic fish catch
relative to demersal fish catch are observed in the three ecoregions
with the highest temperatures, i.e. Northern Gulf of Mexico, Carolinian
and Floridian. These higher proportions support previously documented
patterns in global fish catches towards dominance of pelagic fish
towards the tropics (van Denderen et al. 2018) and could have
contributed to the observed declines of demersal fish biomass with
temperature. The trophodynamic model implicitly accommodated regional
variation in pelagic and demersal fish (by way of parameter p ).
Although the trophodynamic model confirmed the SEM outcome, it is
important to note that not all the decline in demersal fish biomass with
temperature should be associated with a direct bioenergetic effect of
temperature on fish.