Search results for "marine ecosystem"

Descriptors of Posidonia oceanica meadows: Use and application

2005

This work benefited partly from the financial support of the European program ΓNTERREG IIIA Corsica, Sardinia. Tuscany

Marine reserves: size and age do matter

2008

Marine reserves are widely used throughout the world to prevent overfishing and conserve biodiversity, but uncertainties remain about their optimal design. The effects of marine reserves are heterogeneous. Despite theoretical findings, empirical studies have previously found no effect of size on the effectiveness of marine reserves in protecting commercial fish stocks. Using 58 datasets from 19 European marine reserves, we show that reserve size and age do matter: Increasing the size of the no-take zone increases the density of commercial fishes within the reserve compared with outside; whereas the size of the buffer zone has the opposite effect. Moreover, positive effects of marine reserve…

The influence of thermal extremes on coral reef fish behaviour in the Arabian/Persian Gulf

2019

Despite increasing environmental variability within marine ecosystems, little is known about how coral reef fish species will cope with future climate scenarios. The Arabian/Persian Gulf is an extreme environment, providing an opportunity to study fish behaviour on reefs with seasonal temperature ranges which include both values above the mortality threshold of Indo-Pacific reef fish, and values below the optimum temperature for growth. Summer temperatures in the Gulf are comparable to those predicted for the tropical ocean by 2090–2099. Using field observations in winter, spring and summer, and laboratory experiments, we examined the foraging activity, distance from refugia and resting tim…

Modelling sensitive elasmobranchs habitat

2013

Basic information on the distribution and habitat preferences of ecologically important species is essential for their management and protection. In the Mediterranean Sea there is increasing concern over elasmobranch species because their biological (ecological) characteristics make them highly vulnerable to fishing pressure. Their removal could affect the structure and function of marine ecosystems, inducing changes in trophic interactions at the community level due to the selective elimination of predators or prey species, competitors and species replacement. In this study Bayesian hierarchical spatial models are used to map the sensitive habitats of the three most caught elasmobranch spe…

European catfish (Silurus glanis) as a freshwater apex predator drives ecosystem via its diet adaptability

2017

AbstractApex predators play a key role in ecosystem stability across environments but their numbers in general are decreasing. By contrast, European catfish (Silurus glanis), the European freshwater apex predator, is on the increase. However, studies concerning apex predators in freshwaters are scarce in comparison to those in terrestrial and marine ecosystems. The present study combines stomach content and stable isotope analyses with diet preferences of catfish to reveal its impact on the ecosystem since stocking. Catfish niche width is extremely wide in comparison to the typical model predator, Northern pike (Esox lucius). Catfish and pike have different individual dietary specialization…

Competition between marine mammals and fisheries in contemporary harvested marine ecosystems

2019

Competitive interactions between marine mammals and fisheries represent some of the most complex challenges in marine resource management worldwide. The development of commercial fisheries and recovering marine mammal populations have contributed to a decrease in fish availability. Whilst ecosystem-based fisheries management (EBFM) can counteract this decrease, achieving the EBFM objectives faces certain major obstacles including insufficient or unreliable data, inapplicable assessment models, as well as inadequate management decisions that do not account for fisheries-induced morphological alterations (FIMA) and marine mammal management. Despite a body of evidence addressing various aspect…

Small pelagic fish in the new millennium: A bottom-up view of global research effort

2021

The present review is an outcome of discussions at the ICES-PICES Symposium on Drivers of Dynamics of Small Pelagic Fish convened in Victoria, B.C., Canada in spring 2017.-- This review is a first contribution of a new international Working Group on Small Pelagic Fish started jointly by ICES (WGSPF) and PICES (WG43) to continue world-wide collaboration to advance knowledge on the drivers of populations of SPF.

Editorial: Changing Plankton Communities: Causes, Effects and Consequences

2019

Dysbiosis in marine aquaculture revealed through microbiome analysis: reverse ecology for environmental sustainability

2020

AbstractThe increasing demand for products for human consumption is leading to the fast-growing expansion of numerous food sectors such as marine aquaculture (mariculture). However, excessive input of nutrients and pollutants modifies marine ecosystems. Here, we applied a metagenomic approach to investigate these perturbations in samples from marine farms of gilthead seabream cultures. Results revealed dysbiosis and functional imbalance within the net cage with a unique structure, with little interference with samples from the fish microbiota or those collected far away from the coast. Remarkably, below the cage the prokaryotic community was highly similar to the marine microbiome of photic…

Bacterial communities in sediment of a Mediterranean marine protected area

2017

Biodiversity is crucial in preservation of ecosystems, and bacterial communities play an indispensable role for the functioning of marine ecosystems. The Mediterranean marine protected area (MPA) “Capo Gallo–Isola delle Femmine” was instituted to preserve marine biodiversity. The bacterial diversity associated with MPA sediment was compared with that from sediment of an adjacent harbour exposed to intense nautical traffic. The MPA sediment showed higher diversity with respect to the impacted site. A 16S rDNA clone library of the MPA sediment allowed the identification of 7 phyla: Proteobacteria (78%), Firmicutes (11%), Acidobacteria (3%), Actinobacteria (3%), Bacteroidetes (2%), Planctomyc…