The impacts of climate change and the socioecological challenges they present are ubiquitous and increasingly severe. Practical efforts to operationalize climate-responsive design and management in the global network of marine protected areas (MPAs) are required to ensure long-term effectiveness for safeguarding marine biodiversity and ecosystem services. Here, we review progress in integrating climate change adaptation into MPA design and management and provide eight recommendations to expedite this process. Climate-smart management objectives should become the default for all protected areas, and made into an explicit international policy target. Furthermore, incentives to use more dynamic management tools would increase the climate change responsiveness of the MPA network as a whole. Given ongoing negotiations on international conservation targets, now is the ideal time to proactively reform management of the global seascape for the dynamic climate-biodiversity reality.
The stable isotope ratio and seasonal changes in diet of Alluaud's haplo Astatoreochromis alluaudi, a cichlid fish with massive pharyngeal jaws well known for its ability to process hard-bodied prey, are described. The diet of A. alluaudi was quantified in Lake Saka, Uganda, over a period of 30 months. Variation in physico-chemical variables (mean monthly rainfall, water temperature, turbidity and dissolved oxygen), as well as potential competitor density and food abundance, was measured throughout the second half of the study (14 months). Stomach contents and isotope analysis revealed a diet comprised mainly of fishes and insects, with a low contribution of molluscs (0-33%) in any given month. No correlation was detected between diet and either macroinvertebrate abundance or competitor abundance. The running average rainfall was positively related to the percentage of fish consumed per month. Although A. alluaudi exhibits an apparent molluscivorous trophic morphology in Lake Saka, molluscs did not appear to compose a major portion of its diet. Gradients of rainfall seemed to be the most important environmental predictor of diet choice in Lake Saka. These results are discussed with reference to Liem's Paradox that apparently morphologically specialized fishes often function as generalist feeders in the wild.
Life-stage-based management of marine fishes requires information on juvenile habitat preferences to ensure sustainable population demographics. This is especially important in the Arctic region given very little is known about the life histories of many native species, yet exploitation by developing commercial and artisanal fisheries is increasing as the ice extent decreases. Through scientific surveys and bycatch data from gillnet fisheries, we document captures of rarely reported juvenile Greenland sharks (Somniosus microcephalus; B200 cm total length [TL]) during the ice-free period in the Canadian Arctic. A total of 22 juvenile animals (42 % of total catch; n = 54), including the smallest reliably measured individual of 117 cm TL, were caught on scientific longlines and bottom trawls in Scott Inlet and Sam Ford Trough over three consecutive years. Molecular genetic nuclear markers confirmed species identity for 44 of these sharks sampled; however, two sharks including a juvenile of 150 cm TL were identified as carrying a Pacific sleeper shark (Somniosus pacificus) mitochondrial cytochrome b (cyt b) haplotype. This represents the first record of a Pacific sleeper shark genetic signature in Greenland sharks in Eastern Arctic waters. Juvenile sharks caught as bycatch in gillnet fisheries were only observed offshore in Baffin Bay surrounding a fishery closure area, while larger subadult and mature Greenland sharks ([200 cm TL) were caught in all fishing locations, including areas where juveniles were observed. The repeatable occurrence of juvenile Greenland sharks in a fjord and their presence at two offshore sites indicates that these smaller animals either reside in nurseries or have defined home ranges in both coastal and offshore regions or undertake large-scale inshoreoffshore movements.
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