---
- description: 'Historical records of paralytic shellfish toxins (PSTs) in shellfish from a coastal embayment in the Pacific Northwest of the United States are used to examine the influence of large-scale climate variations on aspects of Alexandrium catenella bloom dynamics on interannual and interdecadal timescales. An annual index of shellfish toxicity covaries with the number of days annually that sea surface temperature (SST) exceeds 13degC--a known temperature threshold for increased shellfish toxicity in this region--and with an index of the Pacific Decadal Oscillation (PDO). In contrast, no robust relationship exists between our shellfish toxicity index and an index of the El Nino-Southern Oscillation (ENSO). We hypothesize that this is because anomalously warm water temperatures created during El Nino winters do not generally persist into the seasonal time period that shellfish in this region accumulate PSTs, which is typically in the summer and fall. In contrast, anomalously warm water temperatures created during warm-phase PDO winters and springs typically persist into the summer and fall, thereby increasing the number of days annually that SST exceeds 13degC, and increasing the window of opportunity for Alexandrium blooms that ultimately lead to shellfish acquiring higher concentrations of PSTs. '
  display_name: The relative influences of El Niño-Southern Oscillation and Pacific Decadal Oscillation on paralytic shellfish toxin accumulation in northwest Pacific shellfish
  doi: 10.4319/lo.2010.55.6.2262
  identifier: 10.4319/lo.2010.55.6.2262
  journal_identifier: limnology-oceanography
  journal_pages: 2262-2274
  journal_vol: 55
  notes: ~
  title: The relative influences of El Niño-Southern Oscillation and Pacific Decadal Oscillation on paralytic shellfish toxin accumulation in northwest Pacific shellfish
  type: article
  uri: /article/10.4319/lo.2010.55.6.2262
  url: ~
  year: 2010
- description: ~
  display_name: Oceanography of the U.S. Pacific Northwest Coastal Ocean and estuaries with application to coastal ecology
  doi: 10.1007/BF02803360
  identifier: 10.1007/BF02803360
  journal_identifier: estuaries-coasts
  journal_pages: 1010-1031
  journal_vol: 26
  notes: ~
  title: Oceanography of the U.S. Pacific Northwest Coastal Ocean and estuaries with application to coastal ecology
  type: article
  uri: /article/10.1007/BF02803360
  url: ~
  year: 2003
- description: ~
  display_name: Why is the Northern End of the California Current System So Productive?
  doi: 10.5670/oceanog.2008.07
  identifier: 10.5670/oceanog.2008.07
  journal_identifier: oceanography
  journal_pages: 90-107
  journal_vol: 21
  notes: ~
  title: Why is the Northern End of the California Current System So Productive?
  type: article
  uri: /article/10.5670/oceanog.2008.07
  url: ~
  year: 2008
- description: ~
  display_name: 'Recent trends in paralytic shellfish toxins in Puget Sound, relationships to climate, and capacity for prediction of toxic events'
  doi: 10.1016/j.hal.2008.10.003
  identifier: 10.1016/j.hal.2008.10.003
  journal_identifier: harmful-algae
  journal_pages: 463-477
  journal_vol: 8
  notes: ~
  title: 'Recent trends in paralytic shellfish toxins in Puget Sound, relationships to climate, and capacity for prediction of toxic events'
  type: article
  uri: /article/10.1016/j.hal.2008.10.003
  url: ~
  year: 2009