Direct effects and prey-mediated effects of global change in projections of early life stages of pelagic predators

Global change will impact the distribution and abundance of predators through a combination of abiotic variables, such as temperature, and biotic variables, such as prey availability. However, there is a poor understanding of how distribution projections with biotic variables differ from those with abiotic variables, particularly in resource limited and marine systems. We address this knowledge gap using the planktonic larvae of iconic and economically important pelagic fish predators. We leverage a multidecadal, long-term sampling program from the western Atlantic Ocean to assess the efficacy of using zooplankton prey (copepods, larvaceans and cladocerans) and climate variables to predict the distribution of larvae of seven pelagic fish species, including tunas, billfishes and mahi-mahi. These data (2 excel files, plus an additional excel file), as well as earth system model data (4 netcdf files) that inform projections are included here. We also include 5 R scripts that proc..., , # Direct effects and prey-mediated effects of global change in projections of early life stages of pelagic predators

This repository contains model inputs and model processing (R) files. Specifically, the repo contains:

1. Five R scripts for model processing (eg model creation, model selection, creating model output and creating figures).
2. Three excel files that also serve as input for R files (biotic variables, additional abiotic variables, and figure input).
3. Four (for each abiotic variable) netcdf files of earth system model (ESM) output (surface temperature, bottom temperature, surface salinity and surface chlorophyll) that serve as input for R files.

-Netcdf files can be viewed in R via the ncdf4 package (other options include the netCDF4 library in Python). We also suggest Panoply as an open software that does not require programmatic skills. 

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#### Description of five R scripts (run R scripts in numerical order)

### `(01)_ESM_Projections_and_Maps.R`

* **Descripti...,