Global nutrient cycling by commercially targeted marine fish

Mézo, Priscilla Le; Guiet, Jérôme; Scherrer, Kim; Bianchi, Daniele; Galbraith, Eric D.

doi:10.5194/bg-19-2537-2022

Cited by 14 publications

(12 citation statements)

References 86 publications

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“…The production of waste products is ubiquitous across the animal kingdom; this waste is a key component of nutrient cycles (Roman and McCarthy, 2010;Le Meźo et al, 2022) as well as an important way in which microbiota are transported throughout environments (Grupstra et al, 2022). Animal diets determine the composition of waste products, including their associated microbiota, and thus influence how the waste may affect other organisms in the environment (Barron Pastor and Gordon, 2016;Reese and Dunn, 2018;Clever et al, 2022).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Consumer feces impact coral health in guild-specific ways

et al. 2023

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Animal waste products are an important component of nutrient cycles and result in the trophic transmission of diverse microorganisms. There is growing recognition that the feces of consumers, such as predators, may impact resource species, their prey, via physical effects and/or microbial activity. We tested the effect of feces from distinct fish trophic groups on coral health and used heat-killed fecal controls to tease apart physical versus microbial effects of contact with fecal material. Fresh grazer/detritivore fish feces caused lesions more frequently on corals, and lesions were 4.2-fold larger than those from sterilized grazer/detritivore feces; in contrast, fresh corallivore feces did not cause more frequent or larger lesions than sterilized corallivore feces. Thus, microbial activity in grazer/detritivore feces, but not corallivore feces, was harmful to corals. Characterization of bacterial diversity in feces of 10 reef fish species, ranging from obligate corallivores to grazer/detritivores, indicated that our experimental findings may be broadly generalizable to consumer guild, since feces of some obligate corallivores contained ~2-fold higher relative abundances of coral mutualist bacteria (e.g., Endozoicomonadaceae), and lower abundances of the coral pathogen, Vibrio coralliilyticus, than feces of some grazer/detritivores. These findings recontextualize the ecological roles of consumers on coral reefs: although grazer/detritivores support coral reef health in various ways (e.g., promoting coral settlement and herbivory through the removal of detritus and sediments from the algal matrix), they also disperse coral pathogens. Corallivore predation can wound corals, yet their feces contain potentially beneficial coral-associated bacteria, supporting the hypothesized role of consumers, and corallivores in particular, in coral symbiont dispersal. Such consumer-mediated microbial dispersal as demonstrated here has broad implications for environmental management.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Consumer feces impact coral health in guild-specific ways

et al. 2023

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“…2 Institute of Zoology, Zoological Society of London, Regent's Park, London, UK. 3 Marine Futures Lab, School of Biological Sciences, University of Western Australia, Perth, WA, Australia. 4 MARBEC, Université de Montpellier, CNRS, Ifremer, IRD, Montpellier, France.…”

Section: Body-size Structure Across Systemsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Divergent responses of pelagic and benthic fish body-size structure to remoteness and protection from humans

Letessier,

Mouillot,

Mannocci

et al. 2024

Science

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Animal body-size variation influences multiple processes in marine ecosystems, but habitat heterogeneity has prevented a comprehensive assessment of size across pelagic (midwater) and benthic (seabed) systems along anthropic gradients. In this work, we derive fish size indicators from 17,411 stereo baited-video deployments to test for differences between pelagic and benthic responses to remoteness from human pressures and effectiveness of marine protected areas (MPAs). From records of 823,849 individual fish, we report divergent responses between systems, with pelagic size structure more profoundly eroded near human markets than benthic size structure, signifying greater vulnerability of pelagic systems to human pressure. Effective protection of benthic size structure can be achieved through MPAs placed near markets, thereby contributing to benthic habitat restoration and the recovery of associated fishes. By contrast, recovery of the world’s largest and most endangered fishes in pelagic systems requires the creation of highly protected areas in remote locations, including on the High Seas, where protection efforts lag.

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“…For instance, fish aggregations on coral reefs have been linked to the formation and maintenance of seagrass halos in patch reef systems (Alevizon, 2002;Allgeier et al, 2013) and to increased coral growth (Holbrook et al, 2008;Meyer et al, 1983). However, commercial fishing is estimated to have reduced the global nutrient cycling capacity of fishes by 30% relative to pre-industrial fishing levels (Le Mézo et al, 2022) and of marine mammals by 95% (Doughty et al, 2016). The consequences of these losses remain largely unknown.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Effects of sea cucumber fishing on tropical seagrass productivity

2023

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Fishing can drive major ecological change in coastal ecosystems and is typically examined through top‐down trophic impacts. However, the massive removal of biomass can also disrupt key ecological bottom‐up processes, though how these effects shape ecosystems is poorly understood. Here, we examined the ecological roles of two species of commercially exploited sea cucumbers thought to promote primary productivity in nutrient‐poor environments through nutrient provisioning and sediment processing. Using a large‐scale field experiment, we tested whether simulated sea cucumber fishing affected seagrass productivity in a natural system comprising reef and seagrass patches that varied in abundance of vertebrate nutrient providers (i.e., fishes). Our findings were scale‐ and metric‐specific: while we could not detect a change in patch‐level seagrass productivity in response to simulated sea cucumber fishing, individual leaf extension rates were ~15% lower at sites where all sea cucumbers were removed, relative to the highest density, unfished sites. Interestingly, there was no concomitant effect of nutrients from the more abundant reef‐associated fishes, which contribute far more nutrients overall than sea cucumbers. This suggests that sea cucumbers are likely mediating seagrass growth through mechanisms other than direct nutrient provisioning, perhaps through processes associated with sediment processing. Our study demonstrates the potential consequences of under‐regulated and unmonitored sea cucumber fishing on foundation species like seagrasses, while highlighting the importance of taking a community‐based approach to these types of field experiments.

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Global nutrient cycling by commercially targeted marine fish

Cited by 14 publications

References 86 publications

Consumer feces impact coral health in guild-specific ways

Consumer feces impact coral health in guild-specific ways

Divergent responses of pelagic and benthic fish body-size structure to remoteness and protection from humans

Effects of sea cucumber fishing on tropical seagrass productivity

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