The role of a dominant predator in shapingbiodiversity over space and time in a marineecosystem
1. Exploitation of living marine resources has resulted in major changes to populations of targeted species and functional groups of large-bodied species in the ocean. However, the effects of overfishing and collapse of large top predators on the broad-scale biodiversity of oceanic ecosystems remain...
Published in: | Journal of Animal Ecology |
---|---|
Main Authors: | , , , , , |
Format: | Text |
Language: | English |
Published: |
2015
|
Subjects: | |
Online Access: | http://hdl.handle.net/11250/2396542 https://doi.org/10.1111/1365-2656.12396 |
id |
ftninstnf:oai:brage.nina.no:11250/2396542 |
---|---|
record_format |
openpolar |
spelling |
ftninstnf:oai:brage.nina.no:11250/2396542 2023-05-15T15:27:43+02:00 The role of a dominant predator in shapingbiodiversity over space and time in a marineecosystem Ellingsen, Kari Elsa Anderson, Marti J. Shackell, Nancy L. Tveraa, Torkild Yoccoz, Nigel Gilles Frank, Kenneth T. 2015 application/pdf http://hdl.handle.net/11250/2396542 https://doi.org/10.1111/1365-2656.12396 eng eng Journal of Animal Ecology 2015 urn:issn:1365-2656 http://hdl.handle.net/11250/2396542 https://doi.org/10.1111/1365-2656.12396 cristin:1251896 Navngivelse-Ikkekommersiell-DelPåSammeVilkår 3.0 Norge http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/no/ CC-BY-NC-SA 84 Journal of Animal Ecology 5 Peer reviewed 2015 ftninstnf https://doi.org/10.1111/1365-2656.12396 2021-12-23T07:16:57Z 1. Exploitation of living marine resources has resulted in major changes to populations of targeted species and functional groups of large-bodied species in the ocean. However, the effects of overfishing and collapse of large top predators on the broad-scale biodiversity of oceanic ecosystems remain largely unexplored. 2. Populations of the Atlantic cod (Gadus morhua) were overfished and several collapsed in the early 1990s across Atlantic Canada, providing a unique opportunity to study potential ecosystem-level effects of the reduction of a dominant predator on fish biodiversity, and to identify how such effects might interact with other environmental factors, such as changes in climate, over time. 3. We combined causal modelling with model selection and multimodel inference to analyse 41 years of fishery-independent survey data (1970–2010) and quantify ecosystem-level effects of overfishing and climate variation on the biodiversity of fishes across a broad area (172 000 km2) of the Scotian Shelf. 4. We found that alpha and beta diversity increased with decreases in cod occurrence; fish communities were less homogeneous and more variable in systems where cod no longer dominated. These effects were most pronounced in the colder north-eastern parts of the Scotian Shelf. 5. Our results provide strong evidence that intensive harvesting (and collapse) of marine apex predators can have large impacts on biodiversity, with far-reaching consequences for ecological stability across an entire ecosystem. Key-words: beta diversity, causal model, collapse of cod, human impact, marine fish, path analysis, relative abundance, species composition, top predator, trophic cascade Text atlantic cod Gadus morhua Norwegian Institute for Nature Research: Brage NINA Canada Journal of Animal Ecology 84 5 1242 1252 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Norwegian Institute for Nature Research: Brage NINA |
op_collection_id |
ftninstnf |
language |
English |
description |
1. Exploitation of living marine resources has resulted in major changes to populations of targeted species and functional groups of large-bodied species in the ocean. However, the effects of overfishing and collapse of large top predators on the broad-scale biodiversity of oceanic ecosystems remain largely unexplored. 2. Populations of the Atlantic cod (Gadus morhua) were overfished and several collapsed in the early 1990s across Atlantic Canada, providing a unique opportunity to study potential ecosystem-level effects of the reduction of a dominant predator on fish biodiversity, and to identify how such effects might interact with other environmental factors, such as changes in climate, over time. 3. We combined causal modelling with model selection and multimodel inference to analyse 41 years of fishery-independent survey data (1970–2010) and quantify ecosystem-level effects of overfishing and climate variation on the biodiversity of fishes across a broad area (172 000 km2) of the Scotian Shelf. 4. We found that alpha and beta diversity increased with decreases in cod occurrence; fish communities were less homogeneous and more variable in systems where cod no longer dominated. These effects were most pronounced in the colder north-eastern parts of the Scotian Shelf. 5. Our results provide strong evidence that intensive harvesting (and collapse) of marine apex predators can have large impacts on biodiversity, with far-reaching consequences for ecological stability across an entire ecosystem. Key-words: beta diversity, causal model, collapse of cod, human impact, marine fish, path analysis, relative abundance, species composition, top predator, trophic cascade |
format |
Text |
author |
Ellingsen, Kari Elsa Anderson, Marti J. Shackell, Nancy L. Tveraa, Torkild Yoccoz, Nigel Gilles Frank, Kenneth T. |
spellingShingle |
Ellingsen, Kari Elsa Anderson, Marti J. Shackell, Nancy L. Tveraa, Torkild Yoccoz, Nigel Gilles Frank, Kenneth T. The role of a dominant predator in shapingbiodiversity over space and time in a marineecosystem |
author_facet |
Ellingsen, Kari Elsa Anderson, Marti J. Shackell, Nancy L. Tveraa, Torkild Yoccoz, Nigel Gilles Frank, Kenneth T. |
author_sort |
Ellingsen, Kari Elsa |
title |
The role of a dominant predator in shapingbiodiversity over space and time in a marineecosystem |
title_short |
The role of a dominant predator in shapingbiodiversity over space and time in a marineecosystem |
title_full |
The role of a dominant predator in shapingbiodiversity over space and time in a marineecosystem |
title_fullStr |
The role of a dominant predator in shapingbiodiversity over space and time in a marineecosystem |
title_full_unstemmed |
The role of a dominant predator in shapingbiodiversity over space and time in a marineecosystem |
title_sort |
role of a dominant predator in shapingbiodiversity over space and time in a marineecosystem |
publishDate |
2015 |
url |
http://hdl.handle.net/11250/2396542 https://doi.org/10.1111/1365-2656.12396 |
geographic |
Canada |
geographic_facet |
Canada |
genre |
atlantic cod Gadus morhua |
genre_facet |
atlantic cod Gadus morhua |
op_source |
84 Journal of Animal Ecology 5 |
op_relation |
Journal of Animal Ecology 2015 urn:issn:1365-2656 http://hdl.handle.net/11250/2396542 https://doi.org/10.1111/1365-2656.12396 cristin:1251896 |
op_rights |
Navngivelse-Ikkekommersiell-DelPåSammeVilkår 3.0 Norge http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/no/ |
op_rightsnorm |
CC-BY-NC-SA |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1111/1365-2656.12396 |
container_title |
Journal of Animal Ecology |
container_volume |
84 |
container_issue |
5 |
container_start_page |
1242 |
op_container_end_page |
1252 |
_version_ |
1766358132713324544 |