Research Document - 2014/074
Detection of the common trends in the fish eggs and larvae abundances sampled in the southern Gulf of St. Laurent between 1983 and 2012
By François Grégoire, Linda Girard, Jean-Louis Beaulieu, Jean-François Lussier and Marie-Hélène Gendron
Abstract
Dynamic factor analysis (DFA) was applied to time series abundance of fish eggs and larvae that were collected in the southern Gulf of St. Lawrence between 1983 and 2012. DFA is an analytical technique for multivariate time series that allows the detection of common trends in the overall variability of a species community and the determination of the main associated species. In this study, the DFA models selected have common trends characterized by significant decreases in the abundance. In several cases, these decreases were associated with species that were commercially important such as cod (Gadus morhua), redfish (Sebastes spp.), Atlantic mackerel (Scomber scombrus), and yellowtail flounder (Limanda ferruginea). Environmental variables were also selected by the DFA models. However, these variables were not related to the species associated with common trends.
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