2026/06/13 by Carmen Franco-Gordo, E Godínez Domínguez, Enrique Godínez-Domínguez +5
Earth and Planetary Sciences · Environmental Science · #Marine Biology and Ecology Research #Coral and Marine Ecosystems Studies #Isotope Analysis in Ecology
paper · doi:10.1093/plankt/fbag058
ABSTRACT Ecological trajectory analysis provides a robust framework for describing temporal changes in community composition by quantifying the direction, magnitude and configuration of multivariate change. Using this approach, we examined whether the seasonal dynamics of chaetognath assemblages (15 species) are conserved under seasonal or interannual climatic variability in a coastal system of the eastern tropical Pacific. Monthly chaetognath assemblages collected over 6 years (2011–2016), encompassing contrasting phases of the El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO), were analysed in the central Mexican Pacific. Annual community trajectories were reconstructed in ordination space and compared in terms of displacement, shape and convergence. Although community trajectories showed marked interannual variability, observed differences were largely driven by shifts in community position rather than changes in trajectory shape and seasonal pathway structure. Trajectory displacement accounted for 86% of total interannual dissimilarity, whereas variation in shape and convergence was minimal. A gradual reorganization of community trajectories was detected around mid-2012, coinciding with the La Niña to neutral ENSO transition La Niña to neutral ENSO. Overall, chaetognath assemblages displayed a conserved seasonal trajectory structure, with climatic variability primarily influencing their position in compositional space rather than altering the underlying seasonal dynamics.