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Coghlan AR, Blanchard JL, Wotherspoon S, Stuart-Smith RD, Edgar GJ, Barrett N, Audzijonyte A. Mean reef fish body size decreases towards warmer waters. Ecol Lett 2024; 27:e14375. [PMID: 38361476 DOI: 10.1111/ele.14375] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/18/2023] [Revised: 01/09/2024] [Accepted: 01/11/2024] [Indexed: 02/17/2024]
Abstract
Aquatic ectotherms often attain smaller body sizes at higher temperatures. By analysing ~15,000 coastal-reef fish surveys across a 15°C spatial sea surface temperature (SST) gradient, we found that the mean length of fish in communities decreased by ~5% for each 1°C temperature increase across space, or 50% decrease in mean length from 14 to 29°C mean annual SST. Community mean body size change was driven by differential temperature responses within trophic groups and temperature-driven change in their relative abundance. Herbivores, invertivores and planktivores became smaller on average in warmer temperatures, but no trend was found in piscivores. Nearly 25% of the temperature-related community mean size trend was attributable to trophic composition at the warmest sites, but at colder temperatures, this was <1% due to trophic groups being similarly sized. Our findings suggest that small changes in temperature are associated with large changes in fish community composition and body sizes, with important ecological implications.
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Affiliation(s)
- Amy Rose Coghlan
- Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies (IMAS), University of Tasmania, Hobart, Tasmania, Australia
| | - Julia L Blanchard
- Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies (IMAS), University of Tasmania, Hobart, Tasmania, Australia
- Centre for Marine Socioecology, University of Tasmania, Hobart, Tasmania, Australia
| | | | - Rick D Stuart-Smith
- Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies (IMAS), University of Tasmania, Hobart, Tasmania, Australia
| | - Graham J Edgar
- Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies (IMAS), University of Tasmania, Hobart, Tasmania, Australia
| | - Neville Barrett
- Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies (IMAS), University of Tasmania, Hobart, Tasmania, Australia
| | - Asta Audzijonyte
- Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies (IMAS), University of Tasmania, Hobart, Tasmania, Australia
- Centre for Marine Socioecology, University of Tasmania, Hobart, Tasmania, Australia
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2
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Friedland KD, Ganley LC, Dimarchopoulou D, Gaichas S, Morse RE, Jordaan A. Change in body size in a rapidly warming marine ecosystem: Consequences of tropicalization. THE SCIENCE OF THE TOTAL ENVIRONMENT 2023; 903:166117. [PMID: 37572904 DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2023.166117] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/25/2023] [Revised: 08/04/2023] [Accepted: 08/05/2023] [Indexed: 08/14/2023]
Abstract
Climate change is profoundly affecting the physical environment and biota of the Northeast U.S. Continental Shelf ecosystem. To understand adaptations to climate change, in particular warming temperatures, we used bottom trawl survey data to describe the size of individual fish and macroinvertebrates. Using species distribution models to estimate abundance and biomass, we determined body size in weight for all modeled species. We demonstrate a tendency for increased abundance and biomass and a concomitant decline in body size over time. An analysis of length frequency data supports this assertion. There was no trend in the combined anthropogenic removals from the ecosystem, i.e. catches, suggesting a limited role of fisheries in influencing these changes. The changes in the fish and macroinvertebrate communities are consistent with the hypothesis of a tropicalization of this ecosystem, where the ecosystem experiences a change in diversity, abundance, biomass, and the size of individuals consistent with lower latitudes. The changes in how productivity is expressed in the ecosystem factors into how human populations relate to it; in a practical sense, change in body size will likely influence the strategies and efficiencies of harvest procedures and the industries built to support them.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Laura C Ganley
- Anderson Cabot Center for Ocean Life, New England Aquarium, Boston, MA, 02110, USA
| | - Donna Dimarchopoulou
- Biology Department, Dalhousie University, 1355 Oxford St, PO Box 15000, Halifax, NS, B3H4R2, Canada; Biology Department, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, 360 Woods Hole Road, Woods Hole, MA, 02540, USA
| | - Sarah Gaichas
- Northeast Fisheries Science Center, 166 Water St, Woods Hole, MA, 02543, USA
| | - Ryan E Morse
- Northeast Fisheries Science Center, Narragansett, RI, 02882, USA; CASE Consultants International, 1 Haywood St Suite 451, Asheville, NC, 28801, USA
| | - Adrian Jordaan
- Gloucester Marine Station and Department of Environmental Conservation, University of Massachusetts Amherst, Holdsworth Hall, 160 Holdsworth Way, Amherst, MA, 01003, USA
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3
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Harvesting forage fish can prevent fishing-induced population collapses of large piscivorous fish. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 2021; 118:1917079118. [PMID: 33531361 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1917079118] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
Abstract
Fisheries have reduced the abundances of large piscivores-such as gadids (cod, pollock, etc.) and tunas-in ecosystems around the world. Fisheries also target smaller species-such as herring, capelin, and sprat-that are important parts of the piscivores' diets. It has been suggested that harvesting of these so-called forage fish will harm piscivores. Multispecies models used for fisheries assessments typically ignore important facets of fish community dynamics, such as individual-level bioenergetics and/or size structure. We test the effects of fishing for both forage fish and piscivores using a dynamic, multitrophic, size-structured, bioenergetics model of the Baltic Sea. In addition, we analyze historical patterns in piscivore-biomass declines and fishing mortalities of piscivores and forage fish using global fish-stock assessment data. Our community-dynamics model shows that piscivores benefit from harvesting of their forage fish when piscivore fishing mortality is high. With substantial harvesting of forage fish, the piscivores can withstand higher fishing mortality. On the other hand, when piscivore fishing mortality is low, piscivore biomass decreases with more fishing of the forage fish. In accordance with these predictions, our statistical analysis of global fisheries data shows a positive interaction between the fishing mortalities of forage-fish stocks and piscivore stocks on the strength of piscivore-biomass declines. While overfishing of forage fish must be prevented, our study shows that reducing fishing pressures on forage fish may have unwanted negative side effects on piscivores. In some cases, decreasing forage-fish exploitation could cause declines, or even collapses, of piscivore stocks.
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Forestier R, Blanchard JL, Nash KL, Fulton EA, Johnson C, Audzijonyte A. Interacting forces of predation and fishing affect species' maturation size. Ecol Evol 2020; 10:14033-14051. [PMID: 33391700 PMCID: PMC7771143 DOI: 10.1002/ece3.6995] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/07/2019] [Revised: 06/10/2020] [Accepted: 06/22/2020] [Indexed: 11/08/2022] Open
Abstract
Fishing is a strong selective force and is supposed to select for earlier maturation at smaller body size. However, the extent to which fishing-induced evolution is shaping ecosystems remains debated. This is in part because it is challenging to disentangle fishing from other selective forces (e.g., size-structured predation and cannibalism) in complex ecosystems undergoing rapid change.Changes in maturation size from fishing and predation have previously been explored with multi-species physiologically structured models but assumed separation of ecological and evolutionary timescales. To assess the eco-evolutionary impact of fishing and predation at the same timescale, we developed a stochastic physiologically size-structured food-web model, where new phenotypes are introduced randomly through time enabling dynamic simulation of species' relative maturation sizes under different types of selection pressures.Using the model, we carried out a fully factorial in silico experiment to assess how maturation size would change in the absence and presence of both fishing and predation (including cannibalism). We carried out ten replicate stochastic simulations exposed to all combinations of fishing and predation in a model community of nine interacting fish species ranging in their maximum sizes from 10 g to 100 kg. We visualized and statistically analyzed the results using linear models.The effects of fishing on maturation size depended on whether or not predation was enabled and differed substantially across species. Fishing consistently reduced the maturation sizes of two largest species whether or not predation was enabled and this decrease was seen even at low fishing intensities (F = 0.2 per year). In contrast, the maturation sizes of the three smallest species evolved to become smaller through time but this happened regardless of the levels of predation or fishing. For the four medium-size species, the effect of fishing was highly variable with more species showing significant and larger fishing effects in the presence of predation.Ultimately our results suggest that the interactive effects of predation and fishing can have marked effects on species' maturation sizes, but that, at least for the largest species, predation does not counterbalance the evolutionary effect of fishing. Our model also produced relative maturation sizes that are broadly consistent with empirical estimates for many fish species.
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Affiliation(s)
- Romain Forestier
- Institute for Marine and Antarctic StudiesUniversity of TasmaniaHobartTASAustralia
| | - Julia L. Blanchard
- Institute for Marine and Antarctic StudiesUniversity of TasmaniaHobartTASAustralia
- Centre for Marine SocioecologyHobartTASAustralia
| | - Kirsty L. Nash
- Institute for Marine and Antarctic StudiesUniversity of TasmaniaHobartTASAustralia
- Centre for Marine SocioecologyHobartTASAustralia
| | - Elizabeth A. Fulton
- Centre for Marine SocioecologyHobartTASAustralia
- Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research OrganisationHobartTASAustralia
| | - Craig Johnson
- Institute for Marine and Antarctic StudiesUniversity of TasmaniaHobartTASAustralia
| | - Asta Audzijonyte
- Institute for Marine and Antarctic StudiesUniversity of TasmaniaHobartTASAustralia
- Centre for Marine SocioecologyHobartTASAustralia
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5
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Fish body sizes change with temperature but not all species shrink with warming. Nat Ecol Evol 2020; 4:809-814. [PMID: 32251381 DOI: 10.1038/s41559-020-1171-0] [Citation(s) in RCA: 59] [Impact Index Per Article: 14.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/24/2019] [Accepted: 03/04/2020] [Indexed: 01/28/2023]
Abstract
Ectotherms generally shrink under experimental warming, but whether this pattern extends to wild populations is uncertain. We analysed ten million visual survey records, spanning the Australian continent and multiple decades and comprising the most common coastal reef fishes (335 species). We found that temperature indeed drives spatial and temporal changes in fish body size, but not consistently in the negative fashion expected. Around 55% of species were smaller in warmer waters (especially among small-bodied species), while 45% were bigger. The direction of a species' response to temperature through space was generally consistent with its response to temperature increase through time at any given location, suggesting that spatial trends could help forecast fish responses to long-term warming. However, temporal changes were about ten times faster than spatial trends (~4% versus ~40% body size change per 1 °C change through space and time, respectively). The rapid and variable responses of fish size to warming may herald unexpected impacts on ecosystem restructuring, with potentially greater consequences than if all species were shrinking.
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6
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Ng'oma E, Fidelis W, Middleton KM, King EG. The evolutionary potential of diet-dependent effects on lifespan and fecundity in a multi-parental population of Drosophila melanogaster. Heredity (Edinb) 2019; 122:582-594. [PMID: 30356225 PMCID: PMC6461879 DOI: 10.1038/s41437-018-0154-2] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/06/2018] [Revised: 09/14/2018] [Accepted: 09/16/2018] [Indexed: 11/09/2022] Open
Abstract
The nutritional conditions experienced by a population have a major role in shaping trait evolution in many taxa. Constraints exerted by nutrient limitation or nutrient imbalance can influence the maximal value that fitness components such as reproduction and lifespan attains, and organisms may shift how resources are allocated to different structures and functions in response to changes in nutrition. Whether the phenotypic changes associated with changes in nutrition represent an adaptive response is largely unknown. Further, it is unclear whether the response of fitness components to diet even has the potential to evolve in most systems. In this study, we use an admixed multi-parental population of Drosophila melanogaster reared in three different diet conditions to estimate quantitative genetic parameters for lifespan and fecundity. We find significant genetic variation for both traits in our population and show that lifespan has moderate to high heritabilities within diets. Genetic correlations for lifespan between diets were significantly less than one, demonstrating a strong genotype by diet interaction. These findings demonstrate substantial standing genetic variation in our population that is comparable to natural populations and highlights the potential for adaptation to changing nutritional environments.
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Affiliation(s)
- Enoch Ng'oma
- Division of Biological Sciences, University of Missouri, Columbia, MO, 65211, USA.
| | - Wilton Fidelis
- Division of Biological Sciences, University of Missouri, Columbia, MO, 65211, USA
| | - Kevin M Middleton
- Department of Pathology and Anatomical Sciences, University of Missouri School of Medicine, Columbia, MO, 65212, USA
| | - Elizabeth G King
- Division of Biological Sciences, University of Missouri, Columbia, MO, 65211, USA
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7
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Fernández-Torres F, Martínez PA, Olalla-Tárraga MÁ. Shallow water ray-finned marine fishes follow Bergmann’s rule. Basic Appl Ecol 2018. [DOI: 10.1016/j.baae.2018.09.002] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
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8
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9
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Dencker TS, Pecuchet L, Beukhof E, Richardson K, Payne MR, Lindegren M. Temporal and spatial differences between taxonomic and trait biodiversity in a large marine ecosystem: Causes and consequences. PLoS One 2017; 12:e0189731. [PMID: 29253876 PMCID: PMC5734758 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0189731] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/16/2017] [Accepted: 11/30/2017] [Indexed: 11/19/2022] Open
Abstract
Biodiversity is a multifaceted concept, yet most biodiversity studies have taken a taxonomic approach, implying that all species are equally important. However, species do not contribute equally to ecosystem processes and differ markedly in their responses to changing environments. This recognition has led to the exploration of other components of biodiversity, notably the diversity of ecologically important traits. Recent studies taking into account both taxonomic and trait diversity have revealed that the two biodiversity components may exhibit pronounced temporal and spatial differences. These apparent incongruences indicate that the two components may respond differently to environmental drivers and that changes in one component might not affect the other. Such incongruences may provide insight into the structuring of communities through community assembly processes, and the resilience of ecosystems to change. Here we examine temporal and spatial patterns and drivers of multiple marine biodiversity indicators using the North Sea fish community as a case study. Based on long-term spatially resolved survey data on fish species occurrences and biomasses from 1983 to 2014 and an extensive trait dataset we: (i) investigate temporal and spatial incongruences between taxonomy and trait-based indicators of both richness and evenness; (ii) examine the underlying environmental drivers and, (iii) interpret the results in the context of assembly rules acting on community composition. Our study shows that taxonomy and trait-based biodiversity indicators differ in time and space and that these differences are correlated to natural and anthropogenic drivers, notably temperature, depth and substrate richness. Our findings show that trait-based biodiversity indicators add information regarding community composition and ecosystem structure compared to and in conjunction with taxonomy-based indicators. These results emphasize the importance of examining and monitoring multiple indicators of biodiversity in ecological studies as well as for conservation and ecosystem-based management purposes.
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Affiliation(s)
- Tim Spaanheden Dencker
- Centre for Ocean Life, National Institute of Aquatic Resources (DTU-Aqua), Technical University of Denmark, Kgs. Lyngby, Denmark
| | - Laurene Pecuchet
- Centre for Ocean Life, National Institute of Aquatic Resources (DTU-Aqua), Technical University of Denmark, Kgs. Lyngby, Denmark
| | - Esther Beukhof
- Centre for Ocean Life, National Institute of Aquatic Resources (DTU-Aqua), Technical University of Denmark, Kgs. Lyngby, Denmark
| | - Katherine Richardson
- Centre for Macroecology, Evolution and Climate, Danish Natural History Museum, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark
| | - Mark R. Payne
- Centre for Ocean Life, National Institute of Aquatic Resources (DTU-Aqua), Technical University of Denmark, Kgs. Lyngby, Denmark
| | - Martin Lindegren
- Centre for Ocean Life, National Institute of Aquatic Resources (DTU-Aqua), Technical University of Denmark, Kgs. Lyngby, Denmark
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10
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Improving the community-temperature index as a climate change indicator. PLoS One 2017; 12:e0184275. [PMID: 28898285 PMCID: PMC5595310 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0184275] [Citation(s) in RCA: 24] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/24/2017] [Accepted: 08/21/2017] [Indexed: 11/19/2022] Open
Abstract
Climate change indicators are tools to assess, visualize and communicate the impacts of climate change on species and communities. Indicators that can be applied to different taxa are particularly useful because they allow comparative analysis to identify which kinds of species are being more affected. A general prediction, supported by empirical data, is that the abundance of warm-adapted species should increase over time, relative to the cool-adapted ones within communities, under increasing ambient temperatures. The community temperature index (CTI) is a community weighted mean of species’ temperature preferences and has been used as an indicator to summarize this temporal shift. The CTI has the advantages of being a simple and generalizable indicator; however, a core problem is that temporal trends in the CTI may not only reflect changes in temperature. This is because species’ temperature preferences often covary with other species attributes, and these other attributes may affect species response to other environmental drivers. Here, we propose a novel model-based approach that separates the effects of temperature preference from the effects of other species attributes on species’ abundances and subsequently on the CTI. Using long-term population data of breeding birds in Denmark and demersal marine fish in the southeastern North Sea, we find differences in CTI trends with the original approach and our model-based approach, which may affect interpretation of climate change impacts. We suggest that our method can be used to test the robustness of CTI trends to the possible effects of other drivers of change, apart from climate change.
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11
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Naya DE, Naya H, Cook J. Climate change and body size trends in aquatic and terrestrial endotherms: Does habitat matter? PLoS One 2017; 12:e0183051. [PMID: 28813491 PMCID: PMC5558942 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0183051] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/19/2017] [Accepted: 07/30/2017] [Indexed: 11/21/2022] Open
Abstract
Several studies have claimed that reduction in body size comprises a nearly universal response to global warming; however, doubts about the validity of this pattern for endothermic species have been raised recently. Accordingly, we assessed temporal changes in body mass for 27 bird and 17 mammal species, to evaluate if a reduction in body size during the 20th century is a widespread phenomenon among endothermic vertebrates. In addition, we tested if there are differences in the temporal change in size between birds and mammals, aquatic and terrestrial species, and the first and second half of the 20th century. Overall, six species increased their body mass, 21 species showed no significant changes in size, and 17 species decreased their body mass during the 20th century. Temporal changes in body mass were similar for birds and mammals, but strongly differ between aquatic and terrestrial species: while most of the aquatic species increased or did not change in body mass, most terrestrial species decreased in size. In addition, we found that, at least in terrestrial birds, the mean value of the correlation between body mass and year of collection differs between the first half and the second half of the 20th century, being close to zero for the former period but negative for the later one. To our knowledge, this is the first study showing that temporal changes in body mass differ between aquatic and terrestrial species in both mammals and birds.
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Affiliation(s)
- Daniel E. Naya
- Departamento de Ecología y Evolución, Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad de la República, Montevideo, Uruguay
- * E-mail:
| | - Hugo Naya
- Unidad de Bioinformática, Institut Pasteur de Montevideo, Montevideo, Uruguay
- Departamento de Producción Animal y Pasturas, Facultad de Agronomía, Universidad de la República, Montevideo, Uruguay
| | - Joseph Cook
- Department of Biology and the Museum of Southwestern Biology, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, New Mexico, United States of America
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12
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Valenzuela-Quiñonez F, Arreguín-Sánchez F, Salas-Márquez S, García-De León FJ, Garza JC, Román-Rodríguez MJ, De-Anda-Montañez JA. Critically Endangered totoaba Totoaba macdonaldi: signs of recovery and potential threats after a population collapse. ENDANGER SPECIES RES 2015. [DOI: 10.3354/esr00693] [Citation(s) in RCA: 19] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/23/2022] Open
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13
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Dunlop ES, Eikeset AM, Stenseth NC. From genes to populations: how fisheries-induced evolution alters stock productivity. ECOLOGICAL APPLICATIONS : A PUBLICATION OF THE ECOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF AMERICA 2015; 25:1860-1868. [PMID: 26591452 DOI: 10.1890/14-1862.1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 27] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/05/2023]
Abstract
By removing individuals with certain heritable characteristics such as large body size, harvesting may induce rapid evolutionary change in fish life history. There is controversy, however, as to the prevalence of fisheries-induced evolution (FIE) and to what extent it should be considered as part of sustainable resource management. Recent research has shown that FIE can be difficult to detect and its economic effects might not always be significant. Here, we show how population growth rate (r), a critical factor affecting sustainability and recovery, is affected by FIE through the analysis of a simulation model that demonstrates the link between individual-level genetic processes and stock dynamics. We examine how different levels of evolvability, fishing intensity, and density-dependence interact to influence r in three commercially harvested species: Atlantic cod (Gadus morhua), lake whitefish (Coregonus clupeaformis), and yellow perch (Perca flavescens). We demonstrate that at low harvest levels, evolution has minimal effect on r for all three species. However, at the harvest rates experienced by many fish stocks, evolution increases r and reduces the risk of collapse for cod and whitefish. During the initial stages of a harvest moratorium, a switch occurs, and r becomes reduced as a consequence of evolution. These results explain how evolution increases stock resilience, but also impedes recovery after periods of intense harvesting.
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14
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Affiliation(s)
- Andrea Belgrano
- Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Department of Aquatic Resources, Institute of Marine Research, Turistgatan 5, SE-453 30 Lysekil, Sweden
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15
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Chown SL. Trait-based approaches to conservation physiology: forecasting environmental change risks from the bottom up. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci 2012; 367:1615-27. [PMID: 22566671 DOI: 10.1098/rstb.2011.0422] [Citation(s) in RCA: 71] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 02/06/2023] Open
Abstract
Trait-based approaches have long been a feature of physiology and of ecology. While the latter fields drifted apart in the twentieth century, they are converging owing at least partly to growing similarities in their trait-based approaches, which have much to offer conservation biology. The convergence of spatially explicit approaches to understanding trait variation and its ecological implications, such as encapsulated in community assembly and macrophysiology, provides a significant illustration of the similarity of these areas. Both adopt trait-based informatics approaches which are not only providing fundamental biological insights, but are also delivering new information on how environmental change is affecting diversity and how such change may perhaps be mitigated. Such trait-based conservation physiology is illustrated here for each of the major environmental change drivers, specifically: the consequences of overexploitation for body size and physiological variation; the impacts of vegetation change on thermal safety margins; the consequences of changing net primary productivity and human use thereof for physiological variation and ecosystem functioning; the impacts of rising temperatures on water loss in ectotherms; how hemisphere-related variation in traits may affect responses to changing rainfall regimes and pollution; and how trait-based approaches may enable interactions between climate change and biological invasions to be elucidated.
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Affiliation(s)
- Steven L Chown
- Centre for Invasion Biology, Department of Botany and Zoology, Stellenbosch University, Private Bag X1, Matieland 7602, South Africa.
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16
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Martins GM, Arenas F, Neto AI, Jenkins SR. Effects of fishing and regional species pool on the functional diversity of fish communities. PLoS One 2012; 7:e44297. [PMID: 22952950 PMCID: PMC3432072 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0044297] [Citation(s) in RCA: 20] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/11/2012] [Accepted: 08/01/2012] [Indexed: 11/20/2022] Open
Abstract
The potential population and community level impacts of fishing have received considerable attention, but little is known about how fishing influences communities’ functional diversity at regional scales. We examined how estimates of functional diversity differed among 25 regions of variable richness and investigated the functional consequences of removing species targeted by commercial fisheries. Our study shows that fishing leads to substantial losses in functional diversity. The magnitude of such loss was, however, reduced in the more speciose regions. Moreover, the removal of commercially targeted species caused a much larger reduction in functional diversity than expected by random species deletions, which was a consequence of the selective nature of fishing for particular species traits. Results suggest that functional redundancy is spatially variable, that richer biotas provide some degree of insurance against the impact of fishing on communities’ functional diversity and that fishing predominantly selects for particular species traits. Understanding how fishing impacts community functional diversity is key to predict its effects for biodiversity as well as ecosystem functioning.
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Affiliation(s)
- Gustavo M Martins
- Centro Interdisciplinar de Investigação Marinha e Ambiental (CIIMAR), Porto, Portugal.
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17
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Zhang Y, Payne JL. Size-frequency distributions along a latitudinal gradient in Middle Permian fusulinoideans. PLoS One 2012; 7:e38603. [PMID: 22685590 PMCID: PMC3369838 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0038603] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/19/2012] [Accepted: 05/11/2012] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
Abstract
Geographic gradients in body size within and among living species are commonly used to identify controls on the long-term evolution of organism size. However, the persistence of these gradients over evolutionary time remains largely unknown because ancient biogeographic variation in organism size is poorly documented. Middle Permian fusulinoidean foraminifera are ideal for investigating the temporal persistence of geographic gradients in organism size because they were diverse and abundant along a broad range of paleo-latitudes during this interval (~275-260 million years ago). In this study, we determined the sizes of Middle Permian fusulinoidean fossils from three different paleo-latitudinal zones in order to examine the relationship between the size of foraminifers and regional environment. We recovered the following results: keriothecal fusulinoideans are substantially larger than nonkeriothecal fusulinoideans; fusulinoideans from the equatorial zone are typically larger than those from the north and south transitional zones; neoschwagerinid specimens within a single species are generally larger in the equatorial zone than those in both transitional zones; and the nonkeriothecal fusulinoideans Staffellidae and Schubertellidae have smaller size in the north transitional zone. Fusulinoidean foraminifers differ from most other marine taxa in exhibiting larger sizes closer to the equator, contrary to Bergmann's rule. Meridional variation in seasonality, water temperature, nutrient availability, and carbonate saturation level are all likely to have favored or enabled larger sizes in equatorial regions. Temporal variation in atmospheric oxygen concentrations have been shown to account for temporal variation in fusulinoidean size during Carboniferous and Permian time, but oxygen availability appears unlikely to explain biogeographic variation in fusulinoidean sizes, because dissolved oxygen concentrations in seawater typically increase away from the equator due to declining seawater temperatures. Consequently, our findings highlight the fact that spatial gradients in organism size are not always controlled by the same factors that govern temporal trends within the same clade.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yichun Zhang
- State Key Laboratory of Palaeobiology and Stratigraphy, Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology, CAS, Nanjing, Jiangsu, China.
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Johannesen E, Høines ÅS, Dolgov AV, Fossheim M. Demersal fish assemblages and spatial diversity patterns in the Arctic-Atlantic transition zone in the Barents Sea. PLoS One 2012; 7:e34924. [PMID: 22545093 PMCID: PMC3328492 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0034924] [Citation(s) in RCA: 43] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/02/2012] [Accepted: 03/10/2012] [Indexed: 11/30/2022] Open
Abstract
Direct and indirect effects of global warming are expected to be pronounced and fast in the Arctic, impacting terrestrial, freshwater and marine ecosystems. The Barents Sea is a high latitude shelf Sea and a boundary area between arctic and boreal faunas. These faunas are likely to respond differently to changes in climate. In addition, the Barents Sea is highly impacted by fisheries and other human activities. This strong human presence places great demands on scientific investigation and advisory capacity. In order to identify basic community structures against which future climate related or other human induced changes could be evaluated, we analyzed species composition and diversity of demersal fish in the Barents Sea. We found six main assemblages that were separated along depth and temperature gradients. There are indications that climate driven changes have already taken place, since boreal species were found in large parts of the Barents Sea shelf, including also the northern Arctic area. When modelling diversity as a function of depth and temperature, we found that two of the assemblages in the eastern Barents Sea showed lower diversity than expected from their depth and temperature. This is probably caused by low habitat complexity and the distance to the pool of boreal species in the western Barents Sea. In contrast coastal assemblages in south western Barents Sea and along Novaya Zemlya archipelago in the Eastern Barents Sea can be described as diversity "hotspots"; the South-western area had high density of species, abundance and biomass, and here some species have their northern distribution limit, whereas the Novaya Zemlya area has unique fauna of Arctic, coastal demersal fish. (see Information S1 for abstract in Russian).
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Affiliation(s)
- Edda Johannesen
- Ecosystem Processes Research Group, Institute of Marine Research, Bergen, Norway.
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Shackell NL, Fisher JAD, Frank KT, Lawton P. Spatial scale of similarity as an indicator of metacommunity stability in exploited marine systems. ECOLOGICAL APPLICATIONS : A PUBLICATION OF THE ECOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF AMERICA 2012; 22:336-348. [PMID: 22471094 DOI: 10.1890/10-2093.1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 17] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 05/31/2023]
Abstract
The spatial scale of similarity among fish communities is characteristically large in temperate marine systems: connectivity is enhanced by high rates of dispersal during the larval/juvenile stages and the increased mobility of large-bodied fish. A larger spatial scale of similarity (low beta diversity) is advantageous in heavily exploited systems because locally depleted populations are more likely to be "rescued" by neighboring areas. We explored whether the spatial scale of similarity changed from 1970 to 2006 due to overfishing of dominant, large-bodied groundfish across a 300 000-km2 region of the Northwest Atlantic. Annually, similarities among communities decayed slowly with increasing geographic distance in this open system, but through time the decorrelation distance declined by 33%, concomitant with widespread reductions in biomass, body size, and community evenness. The decline in connectivity stemmed from an erosion of community similarity among local subregions separated by distances as small as 100 km. Larger fish, of the same species, contribute proportionally more viable offspring, so observed body size reductions will have affected maternal output. The cumulative effect of nonlinear maternal influences on egg/larval quality may have compromised the spatial scale of effective larval dispersal, which may account for the delayed recovery of certain member species. Our study adds strong support for using the spatial scale of similarity as an indicator of metacommunity stability both to understand the spatial impacts of exploitation and to refine how spatial structure is used in management plans.
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Affiliation(s)
- Nancy L Shackell
- Fisheries and Oceans Canada, Bedford Institute of Oceanography, P.O. Box 1006, Dartmouth, Nova Scotia B2Y 4A2, Canada.
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Buckland ST, Studeny AC, Magurran AE, Illian JB, Newson SE. The geometric mean of relative abundance indices: a biodiversity measure with a difference. Ecosphere 2011. [DOI: 10.1890/es11-00186.1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 59] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
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Frank KT, Petrie B, Fisher JAD, Leggett WC. Transient dynamics of an altered large marine ecosystem. Nature 2011; 477:86-9. [DOI: 10.1038/nature10285] [Citation(s) in RCA: 194] [Impact Index Per Article: 14.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/10/2011] [Accepted: 06/13/2011] [Indexed: 11/09/2022]
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