Cascading Effects of the Loss of Apex Predatory Sharks from a Coastal Ocean
Impacts of chronic overfishing are evident in population depletions worldwide, yet indirect ecosystem effects induced by predator removal from oceanic food webs remain unpredictable. As abundances of all 11 great sharks that consume other elasmobranchs (rays, skates, and small sharks) fell over the...
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American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)
2007
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Online Access: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1126/science.1138657 https://www.science.org/doi/pdf/10.1126/science.1138657 |
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craaas:10.1126/science.1138657 2024-06-23T07:55:40+00:00 Cascading Effects of the Loss of Apex Predatory Sharks from a Coastal Ocean Myers, Ransom A. Baum, Julia K. Shepherd, Travis D. Powers, Sean P. Peterson, Charles H. 2007 http://dx.doi.org/10.1126/science.1138657 https://www.science.org/doi/pdf/10.1126/science.1138657 en eng American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) Science volume 315, issue 5820, page 1846-1850 ISSN 0036-8075 1095-9203 journal-article 2007 craaas https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1138657 2024-06-13T04:01:29Z Impacts of chronic overfishing are evident in population depletions worldwide, yet indirect ecosystem effects induced by predator removal from oceanic food webs remain unpredictable. As abundances of all 11 great sharks that consume other elasmobranchs (rays, skates, and small sharks) fell over the past 35 years, 12 of 14 of these prey species increased in coastal northwest Atlantic ecosystems. Effects of this community restructuring have cascaded downward from the cownose ray, whose enhanced predation on its bay scallop prey was sufficient to terminate a century-long scallop fishery. Analogous top-down effects may be a predictable consequence of eliminating entire functional groups of predators. Article in Journal/Newspaper Northwest Atlantic AAAS Resource Center (American Association for the Advancement of Science) Science 315 5820 1846 1850 |
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AAAS Resource Center (American Association for the Advancement of Science) |
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English |
description |
Impacts of chronic overfishing are evident in population depletions worldwide, yet indirect ecosystem effects induced by predator removal from oceanic food webs remain unpredictable. As abundances of all 11 great sharks that consume other elasmobranchs (rays, skates, and small sharks) fell over the past 35 years, 12 of 14 of these prey species increased in coastal northwest Atlantic ecosystems. Effects of this community restructuring have cascaded downward from the cownose ray, whose enhanced predation on its bay scallop prey was sufficient to terminate a century-long scallop fishery. Analogous top-down effects may be a predictable consequence of eliminating entire functional groups of predators. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Myers, Ransom A. Baum, Julia K. Shepherd, Travis D. Powers, Sean P. Peterson, Charles H. |
spellingShingle |
Myers, Ransom A. Baum, Julia K. Shepherd, Travis D. Powers, Sean P. Peterson, Charles H. Cascading Effects of the Loss of Apex Predatory Sharks from a Coastal Ocean |
author_facet |
Myers, Ransom A. Baum, Julia K. Shepherd, Travis D. Powers, Sean P. Peterson, Charles H. |
author_sort |
Myers, Ransom A. |
title |
Cascading Effects of the Loss of Apex Predatory Sharks from a Coastal Ocean |
title_short |
Cascading Effects of the Loss of Apex Predatory Sharks from a Coastal Ocean |
title_full |
Cascading Effects of the Loss of Apex Predatory Sharks from a Coastal Ocean |
title_fullStr |
Cascading Effects of the Loss of Apex Predatory Sharks from a Coastal Ocean |
title_full_unstemmed |
Cascading Effects of the Loss of Apex Predatory Sharks from a Coastal Ocean |
title_sort |
cascading effects of the loss of apex predatory sharks from a coastal ocean |
publisher |
American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) |
publishDate |
2007 |
url |
http://dx.doi.org/10.1126/science.1138657 https://www.science.org/doi/pdf/10.1126/science.1138657 |
genre |
Northwest Atlantic |
genre_facet |
Northwest Atlantic |
op_source |
Science volume 315, issue 5820, page 1846-1850 ISSN 0036-8075 1095-9203 |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1138657 |
container_title |
Science |
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315 |
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5820 |
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1846 |
op_container_end_page |
1850 |
_version_ |
1802648335427829760 |