Biology of extinction risk in marine fishes

We review interactions between extrinsic threats to marine fishes and intrinsic aspects of their biology that determine how populations and species respond to those threats. Information is available on the status of less than 5% of the world's approximately 15 500 marine fish species, most of w...

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Published in:Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences
Main Authors: Reynolds, John D, Dulvy, Nicholas K, Goodwin, Nicholas B, Hutchings, Jeffrey A
Format: Text
Language:English
Published: The Royal Society 2005
Subjects:
Online Access:http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1559959
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16243696
https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2005.3281
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spelling ftpubmed:oai:pubmedcentral.nih.gov:1559959 2023-05-15T17:35:29+02:00 Biology of extinction risk in marine fishes Reynolds, John D Dulvy, Nicholas K Goodwin, Nicholas B Hutchings, Jeffrey A 2005-09-22 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1559959 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16243696 https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2005.3281 en eng The Royal Society http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1559959 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16243696 http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2005.3281 © 2005 The Royal Society Review Text 2005 ftpubmed https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2005.3281 2013-08-31T06:18:46Z We review interactions between extrinsic threats to marine fishes and intrinsic aspects of their biology that determine how populations and species respond to those threats. Information is available on the status of less than 5% of the world's approximately 15 500 marine fish species, most of which are of commercial importance. By 2001, based on data from 98 North Atlantic and northeast Pacific populations, marine fishes had declined by a median 65% in breeding biomass from known historic levels; 28 populations had declined by more than 80%. Most of these declines would be sufficient to warrant a status of threatened with extinction under international threat criteria. However, this interpretation is highly controversial, in part because of a perception that marine fishes have a suite of life history characteristics, including high fecundity and large geographical ranges, which might confer greater resilience than that shown by terrestrial vertebrates. We review 15 comparative analyses that have tested for these and other life history correlates of vulnerability in marine fishes. The empirical evidence suggests that large body size and late maturity are the best predictors of vulnerability to fishing, regardless of whether differences among taxa in fishing mortality are controlled; there is no evidence that high fecundity confers increased resilience. The evidence reviewed here is of direct relevance to the diverse criteria used at global and national levels by various bodies to assess threat status of fishes. Simple life history traits can be incorporated directly into quantitative assessment criteria, or used to modify the conclusions of quantitative assessments, or used as preliminary screening criteria for assessment of the ∼95% of marine fish species whose status has yet to be evaluated either by conservationists or fisheries scientists. Text North Atlantic PubMed Central (PMC) Pacific Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences 272 1579 2337 2344
institution Open Polar
collection PubMed Central (PMC)
op_collection_id ftpubmed
language English
topic Review
spellingShingle Review
Reynolds, John D
Dulvy, Nicholas K
Goodwin, Nicholas B
Hutchings, Jeffrey A
Biology of extinction risk in marine fishes
topic_facet Review
description We review interactions between extrinsic threats to marine fishes and intrinsic aspects of their biology that determine how populations and species respond to those threats. Information is available on the status of less than 5% of the world's approximately 15 500 marine fish species, most of which are of commercial importance. By 2001, based on data from 98 North Atlantic and northeast Pacific populations, marine fishes had declined by a median 65% in breeding biomass from known historic levels; 28 populations had declined by more than 80%. Most of these declines would be sufficient to warrant a status of threatened with extinction under international threat criteria. However, this interpretation is highly controversial, in part because of a perception that marine fishes have a suite of life history characteristics, including high fecundity and large geographical ranges, which might confer greater resilience than that shown by terrestrial vertebrates. We review 15 comparative analyses that have tested for these and other life history correlates of vulnerability in marine fishes. The empirical evidence suggests that large body size and late maturity are the best predictors of vulnerability to fishing, regardless of whether differences among taxa in fishing mortality are controlled; there is no evidence that high fecundity confers increased resilience. The evidence reviewed here is of direct relevance to the diverse criteria used at global and national levels by various bodies to assess threat status of fishes. Simple life history traits can be incorporated directly into quantitative assessment criteria, or used to modify the conclusions of quantitative assessments, or used as preliminary screening criteria for assessment of the ∼95% of marine fish species whose status has yet to be evaluated either by conservationists or fisheries scientists.
format Text
author Reynolds, John D
Dulvy, Nicholas K
Goodwin, Nicholas B
Hutchings, Jeffrey A
author_facet Reynolds, John D
Dulvy, Nicholas K
Goodwin, Nicholas B
Hutchings, Jeffrey A
author_sort Reynolds, John D
title Biology of extinction risk in marine fishes
title_short Biology of extinction risk in marine fishes
title_full Biology of extinction risk in marine fishes
title_fullStr Biology of extinction risk in marine fishes
title_full_unstemmed Biology of extinction risk in marine fishes
title_sort biology of extinction risk in marine fishes
publisher The Royal Society
publishDate 2005
url http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1559959
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16243696
https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2005.3281
geographic Pacific
geographic_facet Pacific
genre North Atlantic
genre_facet North Atlantic
op_relation http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1559959
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16243696
http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2005.3281
op_rights © 2005 The Royal Society
op_doi https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2005.3281
container_title Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences
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