Reef Fishes at All Trophic Levels Respond Positively to Effective Marine Protected Areas
Reef Fishes at All Trophic Levels Respond Positively to Effective Marine Protected Areas
复制标题
所有营养级的珊瑚礁鱼类对有效的海洋保护区都有积极的反应
作者：
G. Soler;G. Edgar;Russell J. Thomson;Stuart Kininmonth;S. Campbell;T. Dawson;N. Barrett;A. Bernard;D. Galván;T. J. Willis;Timothy J. Alexander;R. Stuart‐Smith;D. Higgs
海洋保护区提供了一个独特的机会来检验捕捞压力对某些营养群体的影响大于其他群体的假设。通过捕鱼消除较大的捕食者往往被认为对一些低营养群体有积极的流动效应，在这种情况下，保护免受捕鱼应导致捕食者种群恢复时对低营养群体的抑制。我们通过评估与79个海洋保护区和全球开放访问站点相关的珊瑚礁鱼类群落营养结构的差异来测试这一点，使用珊瑚礁鱼类群落结构的标准化定量数据集。所有主要营养类群（高等食肉动物，底栖食肉动物，食草动物和草食动物）的生物量显着更大（40% - 200%），在有效的无采取的海洋保护区相对于捕鱼开放获取的地区。这种影响是最明显的个人在大型类，但没有任何营养组的大小类显示出抑郁的生物量在海洋保护区的迹象，从较高的捕食者丰度预测。因此，有效海洋保护区内较大的生物量意味着，对浅岩礁和珊瑚礁的开发对所有鱼类营养群体和大小类别的生物量产生不利影响。捕捞对营养结构的这些直接影响似乎比完整的捕食者种群对较低营养水平的任何自上而下的影响更强。我们建议，开发影响鱼类组合在所有营养级，当地的生态系统功能通常被修改捕鱼。
Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) offer a unique opportunity to test the assumption that fishing pressure affects some trophic groups more than others. Removal of larger predators through fishing is often suggested to have positive flow-on effects for some lower trophic groups, in which case protection from fishing should result in suppression of lower trophic groups as predator populations recover. We tested this by assessing differences in the trophic structure of reef fish communities associated with 79 MPAs and open-access sites worldwide, using a standardised quantitative dataset on reef fish community structure. The biomass of all major trophic groups (higher carnivores, benthic carnivores, planktivores and herbivores) was significantly greater (by 40% - 200%) in effective no-take MPAs relative to fished open-access areas. This effect was most pronounced for individuals in large size classes, but with no size class of any trophic group showing signs of depressed biomass in MPAs, as predicted from higher predator abundance. Thus, greater biomass in effective MPAs implies that exploitation on shallow rocky and coral reefs negatively affects biomass of all fish trophic groups and size classes. These direct effects of fishing on trophic structure appear stronger than any top down effects on lower trophic levels that would be imposed by intact predator populations. We propose that exploitation affects fish assemblages at all trophic levels, and that local ecosystem function is generally modified by fishing.