Contrasting management regimes indicative of mesopredator release in temperate coastal fish assemblages
The absence of functional top predators has been proposed as a mechanism acting to shape fish assemblages in temperate marine ecosystems, with cascading effects on lower trophic levels. We explore this scenario by comparing the trophic and functional status of fish assemblages in Norwegian marine na...
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Online Access: | http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10710310/ http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/38077503 https://doi.org/10.1002/ece3.10745 |
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ftpubmed:oai:pubmedcentral.nih.gov:10710310 2024-01-14T10:05:21+01:00 Contrasting management regimes indicative of mesopredator release in temperate coastal fish assemblages Synnes, Ann‐Elin Wårøy Olsen, Esben Moland Jorde, Per Erik Knutsen, Halvor Moland, Even 2023-12-09 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10710310/ http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/38077503 https://doi.org/10.1002/ece3.10745 en eng John Wiley and Sons Inc. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10710310/ http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/38077503 http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/ece3.10745 © 2023 The Authors. Ecology and Evolution published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/This is an open access article under the terms of the http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. Ecol Evol Research Articles Text 2023 ftpubmed https://doi.org/10.1002/ece3.10745 2023-12-17T01:48:22Z The absence of functional top predators has been proposed as a mechanism acting to shape fish assemblages in temperate marine ecosystems, with cascading effects on lower trophic levels. We explore this scenario by comparing the trophic and functional status of fish assemblages in Norwegian marine national parks, open to fishing, to a nearby coastal seascape that harbors a system of marine protected areas (MPAs) including a no‐take zone. Demersal fish assemblages were sampled using fyke nets over three consecutive seasons. Atlantic cod (Gadus morhua) is potentially a dominant top predator in this ecosystem, and historically, this and other gadids have been targeted by the full range of former and present fisheries. In the present study, we find that average body size of the Atlantic cod was significantly larger in the zoned seascape compared to the unprotected areas (mean ± SD: 36.6 cm ± 14.38 vs. 23.4 ± 7.50; p < .001) and that the unprotected seascape was characterized by a higher abundance of mesopredator fish species. These observations are consistent with the hypothesis that the protection of top predators within MPAs aids to control the mesopredator populations and provides empirical support to the notion that the present state of many coastal fish assemblages is driven by mesopredator release linked to functional depletion of large top predators. Text atlantic cod Gadus morhua PubMed Central (PMC) Ecology and Evolution 13 12 |
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Research Articles |
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Research Articles Synnes, Ann‐Elin Wårøy Olsen, Esben Moland Jorde, Per Erik Knutsen, Halvor Moland, Even Contrasting management regimes indicative of mesopredator release in temperate coastal fish assemblages |
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Research Articles |
description |
The absence of functional top predators has been proposed as a mechanism acting to shape fish assemblages in temperate marine ecosystems, with cascading effects on lower trophic levels. We explore this scenario by comparing the trophic and functional status of fish assemblages in Norwegian marine national parks, open to fishing, to a nearby coastal seascape that harbors a system of marine protected areas (MPAs) including a no‐take zone. Demersal fish assemblages were sampled using fyke nets over three consecutive seasons. Atlantic cod (Gadus morhua) is potentially a dominant top predator in this ecosystem, and historically, this and other gadids have been targeted by the full range of former and present fisheries. In the present study, we find that average body size of the Atlantic cod was significantly larger in the zoned seascape compared to the unprotected areas (mean ± SD: 36.6 cm ± 14.38 vs. 23.4 ± 7.50; p < .001) and that the unprotected seascape was characterized by a higher abundance of mesopredator fish species. These observations are consistent with the hypothesis that the protection of top predators within MPAs aids to control the mesopredator populations and provides empirical support to the notion that the present state of many coastal fish assemblages is driven by mesopredator release linked to functional depletion of large top predators. |
format |
Text |
author |
Synnes, Ann‐Elin Wårøy Olsen, Esben Moland Jorde, Per Erik Knutsen, Halvor Moland, Even |
author_facet |
Synnes, Ann‐Elin Wårøy Olsen, Esben Moland Jorde, Per Erik Knutsen, Halvor Moland, Even |
author_sort |
Synnes, Ann‐Elin Wårøy |
title |
Contrasting management regimes indicative of mesopredator release in temperate coastal fish assemblages |
title_short |
Contrasting management regimes indicative of mesopredator release in temperate coastal fish assemblages |
title_full |
Contrasting management regimes indicative of mesopredator release in temperate coastal fish assemblages |
title_fullStr |
Contrasting management regimes indicative of mesopredator release in temperate coastal fish assemblages |
title_full_unstemmed |
Contrasting management regimes indicative of mesopredator release in temperate coastal fish assemblages |
title_sort |
contrasting management regimes indicative of mesopredator release in temperate coastal fish assemblages |
publisher |
John Wiley and Sons Inc. |
publishDate |
2023 |
url |
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10710310/ http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/38077503 https://doi.org/10.1002/ece3.10745 |
genre |
atlantic cod Gadus morhua |
genre_facet |
atlantic cod Gadus morhua |
op_source |
Ecol Evol |
op_relation |
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10710310/ http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/38077503 http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/ece3.10745 |
op_rights |
© 2023 The Authors. Ecology and Evolution published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/This is an open access article under the terms of the http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1002/ece3.10745 |
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Ecology and Evolution |
container_volume |
13 |
container_issue |
12 |
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1788059714456649728 |