Comparison of Coral Reef Ecosystems along a Fishing Pressure Gradient
Three trophic mass-balance models representing coral reef ecosystems along a fishery gradient were compared to evaluate ecosystem effects of fishing. The majority of the biomass estimates came directly from a large-scale visual survey program; therefore, data were collected in the same way for all t...
| Main Authors: | , , |
|---|---|
| Format: | Online |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Public Library of Science
2013
|
| Online Access: | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3667803/ |
| id |
pubmed-3667803 |
|---|---|
| recordtype |
oai_dc |
| spelling |
pubmed-36678032013-06-04 Comparison of Coral Reef Ecosystems along a Fishing Pressure Gradient Weijerman, Mariska Fulton, Elizabeth A. Parrish, Frank A. Research Article Three trophic mass-balance models representing coral reef ecosystems along a fishery gradient were compared to evaluate ecosystem effects of fishing. The majority of the biomass estimates came directly from a large-scale visual survey program; therefore, data were collected in the same way for all three models, enhancing comparability. Model outputs–such as net system production, size structure of the community, total throughput, production, consumption, production-to-respiration ratio, and Finn’s cycling index and mean path length–indicate that the systems around the unpopulated French Frigate Shoals and along the relatively lightly populated Kona Coast of Hawai’i Island are mature, stable systems with a high efficiency in recycling of biomass. In contrast, model results show that the reef system around the most populated island in the State of Hawai’i, O’ahu, is in a transitional state with reduced ecosystem resilience and appears to be shifting to an algal-dominated system. Evaluation of the candidate indicators for fishing pressure showed that indicators at the community level (e.g., total biomass, community size structure, trophic level of the community) were most robust (i.e., showed the clearest trend) and that multiple indicators are necessary to identify fishing perturbations. These indicators could be used as performance indicators when compared to a baseline for management purposes. This study shows that ecosystem models can be valuable tools in identification of the system state in terms of complexity, stability, and resilience and, therefore, can complement biological metrics currently used by monitoring programs as indicators for coral reef status. Moreover, ecosystem models can improve our understanding of a system’s internal structure that can be used to support management in identification of approaches to reverse unfavorable states. Public Library of Science 2013-05-30 /pmc/articles/PMC3667803/ /pubmed/23737951 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0063797 Text en https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/ This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Public Domain declaration, which stipulates that, once placed in the public domain, this work may be freely reproduced, distributed, transmitted, modified, built upon, or otherwise used by anyone for any lawful purpose. |
| repository_type |
Open Access Journal |
| institution_category |
Foreign Institution |
| institution |
US National Center for Biotechnology Information |
| building |
NCBI PubMed |
| collection |
Online Access |
| language |
English |
| format |
Online |
| author |
Weijerman, Mariska Fulton, Elizabeth A. Parrish, Frank A. |
| spellingShingle |
Weijerman, Mariska Fulton, Elizabeth A. Parrish, Frank A. Comparison of Coral Reef Ecosystems along a Fishing Pressure Gradient |
| author_facet |
Weijerman, Mariska Fulton, Elizabeth A. Parrish, Frank A. |
| author_sort |
Weijerman, Mariska |
| title |
Comparison of Coral Reef Ecosystems along a Fishing Pressure Gradient |
| title_short |
Comparison of Coral Reef Ecosystems along a Fishing Pressure Gradient |
| title_full |
Comparison of Coral Reef Ecosystems along a Fishing Pressure Gradient |
| title_fullStr |
Comparison of Coral Reef Ecosystems along a Fishing Pressure Gradient |
| title_full_unstemmed |
Comparison of Coral Reef Ecosystems along a Fishing Pressure Gradient |
| title_sort |
comparison of coral reef ecosystems along a fishing pressure gradient |
| description |
Three trophic mass-balance models representing coral reef ecosystems along a fishery gradient were compared to evaluate ecosystem effects of fishing. The majority of the biomass estimates came directly from a large-scale visual survey program; therefore, data were collected in the same way for all three models, enhancing comparability. Model outputs–such as net system production, size structure of the community, total throughput, production, consumption, production-to-respiration ratio, and Finn’s cycling index and mean path length–indicate that the systems around the unpopulated French Frigate Shoals and along the relatively lightly populated Kona Coast of Hawai’i Island are mature, stable systems with a high efficiency in recycling of biomass. In contrast, model results show that the reef system around the most populated island in the State of Hawai’i, O’ahu, is in a transitional state with reduced ecosystem resilience and appears to be shifting to an algal-dominated system. Evaluation of the candidate indicators for fishing pressure showed that indicators at the community level (e.g., total biomass, community size structure, trophic level of the community) were most robust (i.e., showed the clearest trend) and that multiple indicators are necessary to identify fishing perturbations. These indicators could be used as performance indicators when compared to a baseline for management purposes. This study shows that ecosystem models can be valuable tools in identification of the system state in terms of complexity, stability, and resilience and, therefore, can complement biological metrics currently used by monitoring programs as indicators for coral reef status. Moreover, ecosystem models can improve our understanding of a system’s internal structure that can be used to support management in identification of approaches to reverse unfavorable states. |
| publisher |
Public Library of Science |
| publishDate |
2013 |
| url |
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3667803/ |
| _version_ |
1611982239456821248 |