Trait-environment relationships in marine fish:An exploration of patterns, drivers and assembly processes shaping marine fish communities
Marine ecosystems are exposed to a multitude of environmental and anthropogenic pressures, such as overfishing, habitat loss, invasive species and global warming. Such pressures alter the structure and biodiversity of natural communities, thereby potentially affecting the functions and services that...
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| Format: | Book |
| Language: | English |
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Technical University of Denmark
2019
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| Online Access: | https://orbit.dtu.dk/en/publications/1fc24d2c-9255-4e6a-ba1d-37c372f509d4 https://backend.orbit.dtu.dk/ws/files/195446227/190617_Thesis_short_submission_Esther_Beukhof.pdf |
| Summary: | Marine ecosystems are exposed to a multitude of environmental and anthropogenic pressures, such as overfishing, habitat loss, invasive species and global warming. Such pressures alter the structure and biodiversity of natural communities, thereby potentially affecting the functions and services that marine ecosystems provide, such as food and coastal protection. The goal of ecosystem-based management is to sustainably make use of marine ecosystems whilst protecting its health and functioning. This requires knowledge on how natural communities respond to the range of environmental and anthropogenic pressures. The trait-based approach may provide such knowledge and understanding. It is based on the traits that species carry, which determine which environments a species can inhabit and how it may respond to disturbances. A trait can be any characteristic that one can measure on an organism, and can be related to its behaviour, morphology, life history or physiology. Moreover, characterizing natural communities in terms of their traits allows for comparing ecosystems with entirely different species compositions, thereby enhancing the possibility of finding general patterns across communities and ecosystems. In this thesis I applied a trait-based approach to marine fish communities with the aim to understand how they are structured in terms of traits, and to use traits to assess how fish communities respond to changes in environment and fishing pressure. The response of a community to a change in environment or an anthropogenic disturbance can be detected by investigating shifts in the mean trait values expressed by the community. The North Sea fish community has a history of intense fishing pressure, as well as climate-driven changes during the last few decades. Furthermore, there are strong spatial gradients in environmental conditions, from the shallow, southern parts to the deeper, northern parts where the North Sea meets the North Atlantic. We therefore explored if the North Sea fish community shifted in its ... |
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