Spatial scale of similarity as an indicator of metacommunity stability in exploited marine systems
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 divers...
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crwiley:10.1890/10-2093.1 2024-06-23T07:55:41+00:00 Spatial scale of similarity as an indicator of metacommunity stability in exploited marine systems Shackell, Nancy L. Fisher, Jonathan A. D. Frank, Kenneth T. Lawton, Peter 2012 http://dx.doi.org/10.1890/10-2093.1 https://api.wiley.com/onlinelibrary/tdm/v1/articles/10.1890%2F10-2093.1 https://esajournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1890/10-2093.1 en eng Wiley http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/termsAndConditions#vor Ecological Applications volume 22, issue 1, page 336-348 ISSN 1051-0761 1939-5582 journal-article 2012 crwiley https://doi.org/10.1890/10-2093.1 2024-06-04T06:36:44Z 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‐km 2 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. Article in Journal/Newspaper Northwest Atlantic Wiley Online Library Ecological Applications 22 1 336 348 |
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Wiley Online Library |
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language |
English |
description |
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‐km 2 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. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Shackell, Nancy L. Fisher, Jonathan A. D. Frank, Kenneth T. Lawton, Peter |
spellingShingle |
Shackell, Nancy L. Fisher, Jonathan A. D. Frank, Kenneth T. Lawton, Peter Spatial scale of similarity as an indicator of metacommunity stability in exploited marine systems |
author_facet |
Shackell, Nancy L. Fisher, Jonathan A. D. Frank, Kenneth T. Lawton, Peter |
author_sort |
Shackell, Nancy L. |
title |
Spatial scale of similarity as an indicator of metacommunity stability in exploited marine systems |
title_short |
Spatial scale of similarity as an indicator of metacommunity stability in exploited marine systems |
title_full |
Spatial scale of similarity as an indicator of metacommunity stability in exploited marine systems |
title_fullStr |
Spatial scale of similarity as an indicator of metacommunity stability in exploited marine systems |
title_full_unstemmed |
Spatial scale of similarity as an indicator of metacommunity stability in exploited marine systems |
title_sort |
spatial scale of similarity as an indicator of metacommunity stability in exploited marine systems |
publisher |
Wiley |
publishDate |
2012 |
url |
http://dx.doi.org/10.1890/10-2093.1 https://api.wiley.com/onlinelibrary/tdm/v1/articles/10.1890%2F10-2093.1 https://esajournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1890/10-2093.1 |
genre |
Northwest Atlantic |
genre_facet |
Northwest Atlantic |
op_source |
Ecological Applications volume 22, issue 1, page 336-348 ISSN 1051-0761 1939-5582 |
op_rights |
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/termsAndConditions#vor |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1890/10-2093.1 |
container_title |
Ecological Applications |
container_volume |
22 |
container_issue |
1 |
container_start_page |
336 |
op_container_end_page |
348 |
_version_ |
1802648347283030016 |