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Reef fishes at all trophic levels respond positively to effective marine protected areas
Citation
Soler, GA and Edgar, GJ and Thomson, RJ and Kininmonth, S and Campbell, SJ and Dawson, TP and Barrett, NS and Bernard, ATF and Galvan, DE and Willis, TJ and Alexander, TJ and Stuart-Smith, RD, Reef fishes at all trophic levels respond positively to effective marine protected areas, PloS One, 10, (10) Article e0140270. ISSN 1932-6203 (2015) [Refereed Article]
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Copyright Statement
© 2015 Soler et al. Licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
DOI: doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0140270
Abstract
Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) offer a unique opportunity to test the assumption that fishing
pressure affects some trophic groups more than others. Removal of larger predators
through fishing is often suggested to have positive flow-on effects for some lower trophic
groups, in which case protection from fishing should result in suppression of lower trophic
groups as predator populations recover. We tested this by assessing differences in the trophic
structure of reef fish communities associated with 79 MPAs and open-access sites
worldwide, using a standardised quantitative dataset on reef fish community structure. The
biomass of all major trophic groups (higher carnivores, benthic carnivores, planktivores and
herbivores) was significantly greater (by 40% - 200%) in effective no-take MPAs relative to
fished open-access areas. This effect was most pronounced for individuals in large size
classes, but with no size class of any trophic group showing signs of depressed biomass in
MPAs, as predicted from higher predator abundance. Thus, greater biomass in effective
MPAs implies that exploitation on shallow rocky and coral reefs negatively affects biomass
of all fish trophic groups and size classes. These direct effects of fishing on trophic structure
appear stronger than any top down effects on lower trophic levels that would be imposed by
intact predator populations. We propose that exploitation affects fish assemblages at all trophic
levels, and that local ecosystem function is generally modified by fishing.
Item Details
| Item Type: | Refereed Article |
|---|---|
| Keywords: | MPA, Reef Life Survey, marine reserves |
| Research Division: | Biological Sciences |
| Research Group: | Ecology |
| Research Field: | Marine and Estuarine Ecology (incl. Marine Ichthyology) |
| Objective Division: | Environment |
| Objective Group: | Ecosystem Assessment and Management |
| Objective Field: | Ecosystem Assessment and Management of Marine Environments |
| Author: | Soler, GA (Mr German Soler) |
| Author: | Edgar, GJ (Professor Graham Edgar) |
| Author: | Thomson, RJ (Miss Rebecca Thomson) |
| Author: | Kininmonth, S (Dr Stuart Kininmonth) |
| Author: | Barrett, NS (Associate Professor Neville Barrett) |
| Author: | Stuart-Smith, RD (Dr Rick Stuart-Smith) |
| ID Code: | 103540 |
| Year Published: | 2015 |
| Funding Support: | Australian Research Council (LP100200122) |
| Web of Science® Times Cited: | 12 |
| Deposited By: | Sustainable Marine Research Collaboration |
| Deposited On: | 2015-10-15 |
| Last Modified: | 2017-11-01 |
| Downloads: | 95 View Download Statistics |
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