Combining efforts to make maximum sustainable yields and good environmental status match in a food-web model of the southern North Sea

Stäbler, Moritz; Kempf, Alexander; Mackinson, Steven; Poos, Jan Jaap; Garcia, Cécile; Temming, Axel

doi:10.1016/j.ecolmodel.2016.01.020

Cited by 29 publications

(27 citation statements)

References 26 publications

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“…The predatory effects can propagate down to the primary producers of the food web in the so called "trophic cascade," with possible impact on species that has fundamental role in maintaining the ecosystem functionality (e.g., Myers, Baum, Shepherd, Powers, & Peterson, 2007). Several works (Mackinson et al, 2009;Stäbler et al, 2016;Walters et al, 2005) highlighted that effects of fisheries management can propagate through the food web with possible important unexpected feedbacks and thus optimal management requires a better disentanglement of trophic interactions, especially in the case of mixed fisheries. Furthermore, the removal of keystone predators causes a loss of species diversity at trophic levels lower in the food web (Paine, 1966); therefore, the knowledge of the food chain of predators of commercial interest is decisive for a sustainable management of fisheries.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A metabarcoding approach for the feeding habits of European hake in the Adriatic Sea

Riccioni

Stagioni

Piccinetti

et al. 2018

Ecology and Evolution

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European hake (Merluccius merluccius) is one of the most economically important fish for the Mediterranean Sea. It is an important predator of deep upper shelf slope communities currently characterized by growth overexploitation: the understanding of hake's diet might support next generation management tools. However, all current European hake diet studies depend on the morphological identification of prey remains in stomach content, with consequent limitations. In this study, we set up a metabarcoding approach based on cytochrome oxidase I PCR amplification and Miseq Illumina paired‐end sequencing of M. merluccius stomach content remains and compared the results to classic morphological analyses. A total of 95 stomach contents of M. merluccius sampled in the North‐Central Adriatic Sea were analyzed with both the metabarcoding and morphological approaches. Metabarcoding clearly outperformed the morphological method in the taxonomic identification of prey describing more complex trophic relationships even when considering the morphological identification of 200 stomach contents. Statistical analysis of diet composition revealed a weak differentiation among the hake's size classes, confirming an opportunistic feeding behavior. All the analyses performed showed the presence of a core of shared prey among the size classes and a cloud of size‐specific prey. Our study highlights the exceptional potential of metabarcoding as an approach to provide unprecedented taxonomic resolution in the diet of M. merluccius and potentially of other marine predators, due to the broad‐spectrum of detection of the primers used. A thorough description of these complex trophic relationships is fundamental for the implementation of an ecosystem approach to fisheries.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A metabarcoding approach for the feeding habits of European hake in the Adriatic Sea

Riccioni

Stagioni

Piccinetti

et al. 2018

Ecology and Evolution

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“…Overall, the results of our study have implications for the design of future modelling studies with respect to spatial structure and trophic group composition of fish assemblages, for example in food web models [ 55 ]. Similarly, our results can readily inform future ecosystem-based management approaches that are multi-species or community-based compared to the prevailing single-species approaches [ 56 , 57 ].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Community ecology in 3D: Tensor decomposition reveals spatio-temporal dynamics of large ecological communities

et al. 2017

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Understanding spatio-temporal dynamics of biotic communities containing large numbers of species is crucial to guide ecosystem management and conservation efforts. However, traditional approaches usually focus on studying community dynamics either in space or in time, often failing to fully account for interlinked spatio-temporal changes. In this study, we demonstrate and promote the use of tensor decomposition for disentangling spatio-temporal community dynamics in long-term monitoring data. Tensor decomposition builds on traditional multivariate statistics (e.g. Principal Component Analysis) but extends it to multiple dimensions. This extension allows for the synchronized study of multiple ecological variables measured repeatedly in time and space. We applied this comprehensive approach to explore the spatio-temporal dynamics of 65 demersal fish species in the North Sea, a marine ecosystem strongly altered by human activities and climate change. Our case study demonstrates how tensor decomposition can successfully (i) characterize the main spatio-temporal patterns and trends in species abundances, (ii) identify sub-communities of species that share similar spatial distribution and temporal dynamics, and (iii) reveal external drivers of change. Our results revealed a strong spatial structure in fish assemblages persistent over time and linked to differences in depth, primary production and seasonality. Furthermore, we simultaneously characterized important temporal distribution changes related to the low frequency temperature variability inherent in the Atlantic Multidecadal Oscillation. Finally, we identified six major sub-communities composed of species sharing similar spatial distribution patterns and temporal dynamics. Our case study demonstrates the application and benefits of using tensor decomposition for studying complex community data sets usually derived from large-scale monitoring programs.

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“…“IPCC-RCP” scenarios were superimposed on the “MSY” scenario to better assess the impact of rising temperature on cod and whiting that otherwise showed collapsing biomasses and catches 40 , 44 under the “status quo”. Implementing an EAF has been used to investigate fishing policy options providing maximum sustainable yields and to minimise the impact on marine ecosystems 53 . In line with these analyses, our results revealed that sustainable fisheries management can improve the yields of target species in the West Coast of Scotland ecosystem (Fig.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Impact of ocean warming on sustainable fisheries management informs the Ecosystem Approach to Fisheries

Serpetti

Baudron

Burrows

et al. 2017

Sci Rep

123

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An integrated ecosystem model including fishing and the impact of rising temperatures, relative to species’ thermal ranges, was used to assess the cumulative effect of future climate change and sustainable levels of fishing pressure on selected target species. Historically, important stocks of cod and whiting showed declining trends caused by high fisheries exploitation and strong top-down control by their main predators (grey seals and saithe). In a no-change climate scenario these stocks recovered under sustainable management scenarios due to the cumulative effect of reduced fishing and predation mortalities cascading through the food-web. However, rising temperature jeopardised boreal stenothermal species: causing severe declines in grey seals, cod, herring and haddock, while eurythermal species were not affected. The positive effect of a higher optimum temperature for whiting, in parallel with declines of its predators such as seals and cod, resulted in a strong increase for this stock under rising temperature scenarios, indicating a possible change in the contribution of stocks to the overall catch by the end of the century. These results highlight the importance of including environmental change in the ecosystem approach to achieve sustainable fisheries management.

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Combining efforts to make maximum sustainable yields and good environmental status match in a food-web model of the southern North Sea

Cited by 29 publications

References 26 publications

A metabarcoding approach for the feeding habits of European hake in the Adriatic Sea

A metabarcoding approach for the feeding habits of European hake in the Adriatic Sea

Community ecology in 3D: Tensor decomposition reveals spatio-temporal dynamics of large ecological communities

Impact of ocean warming on sustainable fisheries management informs the Ecosystem Approach to Fisheries

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