Trophic interactions and ecosystem management at the New Zealand Subantarctic Islands
Ecosystem-based management (EBM) has become an increasingly popular concept for government agencies to incorporate into management planning strategies. The basic idea behind EBM is that an ecosystem remains intact, resilient and productive in the long-term, to provide for ecological, social, cultura...
Main Author: | |
---|---|
Other Authors: | |
Format: | Master Thesis |
Language: | English |
Published: |
Victoria University of Wellington
2014
|
Subjects: | |
Online Access: | http://researcharchive.vuw.ac.nz/handle/10063/3232 |
id |
ftvuwellington:oai:researcharchive.vuw.ac.nz:10063/3232 |
---|---|
record_format |
openpolar |
spelling |
ftvuwellington:oai:researcharchive.vuw.ac.nz:10063/3232 2023-08-15T12:39:01+02:00 Trophic interactions and ecosystem management at the New Zealand Subantarctic Islands Cooper, Sean David Bell, James 2014 http://researcharchive.vuw.ac.nz/handle/10063/3232 en_NZ eng Victoria University of Wellington http://researcharchive.vuw.ac.nz/handle/10063/3232 Trophic Subantarctic Ecosystem Text Master's 2014 ftvuwellington 2023-07-25T17:24:09Z Ecosystem-based management (EBM) has become an increasingly popular concept for government agencies to incorporate into management planning strategies. The basic idea behind EBM is that an ecosystem remains intact, resilient and productive in the long-term, to provide for ecological, social, cultural and economic benefits. The problem that decision makers face is that there is often little information regarding the structure and functioning of ecosystems upon which to base meaningful decisions. A further complication is that governance of the environment is highly sectoral both across government and within agencies. This often leads to fractured management between the terrestrial, freshwater and marine environments, potentially risking biodiversity loss and the stability of ecosystems. Small oceanic islands may potentially be model ecosystems for undertaking ecological studies, due to their constrained spatial extent and often unmodified condition. The New Zealand Subantarctic Islands, which are remote and largely unmodified, provide a natural laboratory to study the structure and functioning of ecosystems. I undertook stable isotope and water nutrient sampling to describe the trophic structure, trophic interactions and the drivers of the Antipodes and Bounty Islands, two of the islands in New Zealand’s Subantarctic region. These islands have high conservation value and are an important area for breeding seabirds and marine mammals, but there have been no studies at these islands to understand how they function and what the connections are between the terrestrial and marine environments. Using the stable isotope signatures of nitrogen (δ¹⁵N) and carbon (δ¹³C) from a wide range of common marine and terrestrial species at both islands, I described the trophic structure of each island. I found that the islands had a similar number of trophic levels and that omnivory was present beyond secondary consumers and below top level predators. Antipodes Island had a more complex food web than the Bounty Islands, but both ... Master Thesis Antipodes Island Bounty Islands Victoria University of Wellington: ResearchArchive New Zealand |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Victoria University of Wellington: ResearchArchive |
op_collection_id |
ftvuwellington |
language |
English |
topic |
Trophic Subantarctic Ecosystem |
spellingShingle |
Trophic Subantarctic Ecosystem Cooper, Sean David Trophic interactions and ecosystem management at the New Zealand Subantarctic Islands |
topic_facet |
Trophic Subantarctic Ecosystem |
description |
Ecosystem-based management (EBM) has become an increasingly popular concept for government agencies to incorporate into management planning strategies. The basic idea behind EBM is that an ecosystem remains intact, resilient and productive in the long-term, to provide for ecological, social, cultural and economic benefits. The problem that decision makers face is that there is often little information regarding the structure and functioning of ecosystems upon which to base meaningful decisions. A further complication is that governance of the environment is highly sectoral both across government and within agencies. This often leads to fractured management between the terrestrial, freshwater and marine environments, potentially risking biodiversity loss and the stability of ecosystems. Small oceanic islands may potentially be model ecosystems for undertaking ecological studies, due to their constrained spatial extent and often unmodified condition. The New Zealand Subantarctic Islands, which are remote and largely unmodified, provide a natural laboratory to study the structure and functioning of ecosystems. I undertook stable isotope and water nutrient sampling to describe the trophic structure, trophic interactions and the drivers of the Antipodes and Bounty Islands, two of the islands in New Zealand’s Subantarctic region. These islands have high conservation value and are an important area for breeding seabirds and marine mammals, but there have been no studies at these islands to understand how they function and what the connections are between the terrestrial and marine environments. Using the stable isotope signatures of nitrogen (δ¹⁵N) and carbon (δ¹³C) from a wide range of common marine and terrestrial species at both islands, I described the trophic structure of each island. I found that the islands had a similar number of trophic levels and that omnivory was present beyond secondary consumers and below top level predators. Antipodes Island had a more complex food web than the Bounty Islands, but both ... |
author2 |
Bell, James |
format |
Master Thesis |
author |
Cooper, Sean David |
author_facet |
Cooper, Sean David |
author_sort |
Cooper, Sean David |
title |
Trophic interactions and ecosystem management at the New Zealand Subantarctic Islands |
title_short |
Trophic interactions and ecosystem management at the New Zealand Subantarctic Islands |
title_full |
Trophic interactions and ecosystem management at the New Zealand Subantarctic Islands |
title_fullStr |
Trophic interactions and ecosystem management at the New Zealand Subantarctic Islands |
title_full_unstemmed |
Trophic interactions and ecosystem management at the New Zealand Subantarctic Islands |
title_sort |
trophic interactions and ecosystem management at the new zealand subantarctic islands |
publisher |
Victoria University of Wellington |
publishDate |
2014 |
url |
http://researcharchive.vuw.ac.nz/handle/10063/3232 |
geographic |
New Zealand |
geographic_facet |
New Zealand |
genre |
Antipodes Island Bounty Islands |
genre_facet |
Antipodes Island Bounty Islands |
op_relation |
http://researcharchive.vuw.ac.nz/handle/10063/3232 |
_version_ |
1774291691715428352 |