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Body size-dependent responses of a marine fish assemblage to climate change and fishing over a century-long scale

Body size-dependent responses of a marine fish assemblage to climate change and fishing over a century-long scale
Body size-dependent responses of a marine fish assemblage to climate change and fishing over a century-long scale
Commercial fishing and climate change have influenced the composition of marine fish assemblages worldwide, but we require a better understanding of their relative influence on long-term changes in species abundance and body-size distributions. In this study, we investigated long-term (1911–2007) variability within a demersal fish assemblage in the western English Channel. The region has been subject to commercial fisheries throughout most of the past century, and has undergone interannual changes in sea temperature of over 2.0 °C. We focussed on a core 30 species that comprised 99% of total individuals sampled in the assemblage. Analyses showed that temporal trends in the abundance of smaller multispecies size classes followed thermal regime changes, but that there were persistent declines in abundance of larger size classes. Consistent with these results, larger-growing individual species had the greatest declines in body size, and the most constant declines in abundance, while abundance changes of smaller-growing species were more closely linked to preceding sea temperatures. Together these analyses are suggestive of dichotomous size-dependent responses of species to long-term climate change and commercial fishing over a century scale. Small species had rapid responses to the prevailing thermal environment, suggesting their life history traits predisposed populations to respond quickly to changing climates. Larger species declined in abundance and size, reflecting expectations from sustained size-selective overharvesting. These results demonstrate the importance of considering species traits when developing indicators of human and climatic impacts on marine fauna.
climate change, fisheries, life history traits, marine monitoring, overfishing
1354-1013
517-527
Genner, Martin J.
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Sims, David W.
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Southward, Alan J.
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Budd, Georgina C.
c6ce435d-c023-48db-8aad-2ef3c8070f6e
Masterson, Patricia
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McHugh, Matthew
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Rendle, Peter
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Southall, Emily J.
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Wearmouth, Victoria J.
1de41e9a-ba37-4044-9440-ea1af23150b0
Hawkins, Stephen J.
758fe1c1-30cd-4ed1-bb65-2471dc7c11fa
Genner, Martin J.
90547c65-c194-4c93-8ea4-b8523acef1a6
Sims, David W.
31af9daa-3709-4aeb-8761-976ee9fbad5f
Southward, Alan J.
b218af99-0672-45d5-a014-7f44eba261b0
Budd, Georgina C.
c6ce435d-c023-48db-8aad-2ef3c8070f6e
Masterson, Patricia
58c1aeba-5cfe-48db-9cc4-c7702be32dfc
McHugh, Matthew
1fb03788-fb90-44ea-9dd8-a9c1ecd6ff9e
Rendle, Peter
77335eef-7ef3-44ca-b207-c6006a25f830
Southall, Emily J.
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Wearmouth, Victoria J.
1de41e9a-ba37-4044-9440-ea1af23150b0
Hawkins, Stephen J.
758fe1c1-30cd-4ed1-bb65-2471dc7c11fa

Genner, Martin J., Sims, David W., Southward, Alan J., Budd, Georgina C., Masterson, Patricia, McHugh, Matthew, Rendle, Peter, Southall, Emily J., Wearmouth, Victoria J. and Hawkins, Stephen J. (2010) Body size-dependent responses of a marine fish assemblage to climate change and fishing over a century-long scale. Global Change Biology, 16 (2), 517-527. (doi:10.1111/j.1365-2486.2009.02027.x).

Record type: Article

Abstract

Commercial fishing and climate change have influenced the composition of marine fish assemblages worldwide, but we require a better understanding of their relative influence on long-term changes in species abundance and body-size distributions. In this study, we investigated long-term (1911–2007) variability within a demersal fish assemblage in the western English Channel. The region has been subject to commercial fisheries throughout most of the past century, and has undergone interannual changes in sea temperature of over 2.0 °C. We focussed on a core 30 species that comprised 99% of total individuals sampled in the assemblage. Analyses showed that temporal trends in the abundance of smaller multispecies size classes followed thermal regime changes, but that there were persistent declines in abundance of larger size classes. Consistent with these results, larger-growing individual species had the greatest declines in body size, and the most constant declines in abundance, while abundance changes of smaller-growing species were more closely linked to preceding sea temperatures. Together these analyses are suggestive of dichotomous size-dependent responses of species to long-term climate change and commercial fishing over a century scale. Small species had rapid responses to the prevailing thermal environment, suggesting their life history traits predisposed populations to respond quickly to changing climates. Larger species declined in abundance and size, reflecting expectations from sustained size-selective overharvesting. These results demonstrate the importance of considering species traits when developing indicators of human and climatic impacts on marine fauna.

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Published date: February 2010
Keywords: climate change, fisheries, life history traits, marine monitoring, overfishing
Organisations: Ocean and Earth Science

Identifiers

Local EPrints ID: 187749
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/187749
ISSN: 1354-1013
PURE UUID: b970bf31-6352-4202-a98c-26015f77d06f

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Date deposited: 18 May 2011 09:27
Last modified: 14 Mar 2024 03:27

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Contributors

Author: Martin J. Genner
Author: David W. Sims
Author: Alan J. Southward
Author: Georgina C. Budd
Author: Patricia Masterson
Author: Matthew McHugh
Author: Peter Rendle
Author: Emily J. Southall
Author: Victoria J. Wearmouth

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