Differences in reef fish assemblages between populated and remote reefs spanning multiple archipelagos across the central and western Pacific

Comparable information on the status of natural resources across large geographic and human impact scales provides invaluable context to ecosystem-based management and insights into processes driving differences among areas. Data on fish assemblages at 39 US flag coral reef-areas distributed across...

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Main Authors: Williams, I., Richards, B., Sandin, S., Baum, J., Schroeder, R., Nadon, M., Zgliczynski, B., Craig, P., McIlwain, Jennifer, Brainard, R.
Format: Journal Article
Published: Hindawi Publishing Corporation 2011
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/14519
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author Williams, I.
Richards, B.
Sandin, S.
Baum, J.
Schroeder, R.
Nadon, M.
Zgliczynski, B.
Craig, P.
McIlwain, Jennifer
Brainard, R.
author_facet Williams, I.
Richards, B.
Sandin, S.
Baum, J.
Schroeder, R.
Nadon, M.
Zgliczynski, B.
Craig, P.
McIlwain, Jennifer
Brainard, R.
author_sort Williams, I.
building Curtin Institutional Repository
collection Online Access
description Comparable information on the status of natural resources across large geographic and human impact scales provides invaluable context to ecosystem-based management and insights into processes driving differences among areas. Data on fish assemblages at 39 US flag coral reef-areas distributed across the Pacific are presented. Total reef fish biomass varied by more than an order of magnitude: lowest at densely-populated islands and highest on reefs distant from human populations. Remote reefs (<50 people within 100 km) averaged ~4 times the biomass of “all fishes” and 15 times the biomass of piscivores compared to reefs near populated areas. Greatest within-archipelagic differences were found in Hawaiian and Mariana Archipelagos, where differences were consistent with, but likely not exclusively driven by, higher fishing pressure around populated areas. Results highlight the importance of the extremely remote reefs now contained within the system of Pacific Marine National Monuments as ecological reference areas.
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institution Curtin University Malaysia
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publishDate 2011
publisher Hindawi Publishing Corporation
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spelling curtin-20.500.11937-145192017-09-13T15:54:08Z Differences in reef fish assemblages between populated and remote reefs spanning multiple archipelagos across the central and western Pacific Williams, I. Richards, B. Sandin, S. Baum, J. Schroeder, R. Nadon, M. Zgliczynski, B. Craig, P. McIlwain, Jennifer Brainard, R. Comparable information on the status of natural resources across large geographic and human impact scales provides invaluable context to ecosystem-based management and insights into processes driving differences among areas. Data on fish assemblages at 39 US flag coral reef-areas distributed across the Pacific are presented. Total reef fish biomass varied by more than an order of magnitude: lowest at densely-populated islands and highest on reefs distant from human populations. Remote reefs (<50 people within 100 km) averaged ~4 times the biomass of “all fishes” and 15 times the biomass of piscivores compared to reefs near populated areas. Greatest within-archipelagic differences were found in Hawaiian and Mariana Archipelagos, where differences were consistent with, but likely not exclusively driven by, higher fishing pressure around populated areas. Results highlight the importance of the extremely remote reefs now contained within the system of Pacific Marine National Monuments as ecological reference areas. 2011 Journal Article http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/14519 10.1155/2011/826234 Hindawi Publishing Corporation fulltext
spellingShingle Williams, I.
Richards, B.
Sandin, S.
Baum, J.
Schroeder, R.
Nadon, M.
Zgliczynski, B.
Craig, P.
McIlwain, Jennifer
Brainard, R.
Differences in reef fish assemblages between populated and remote reefs spanning multiple archipelagos across the central and western Pacific
title Differences in reef fish assemblages between populated and remote reefs spanning multiple archipelagos across the central and western Pacific
title_full Differences in reef fish assemblages between populated and remote reefs spanning multiple archipelagos across the central and western Pacific
title_fullStr Differences in reef fish assemblages between populated and remote reefs spanning multiple archipelagos across the central and western Pacific
title_full_unstemmed Differences in reef fish assemblages between populated and remote reefs spanning multiple archipelagos across the central and western Pacific
title_short Differences in reef fish assemblages between populated and remote reefs spanning multiple archipelagos across the central and western Pacific
title_sort differences in reef fish assemblages between populated and remote reefs spanning multiple archipelagos across the central and western pacific
url http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/14519