Variation in responses of fishes across multiple reserves within a network of marine protected areas in temperate waters.

ABSTRACT: Meta-analyses of field studies have shown that biomass, density, species richness, and size of organisms protected by no-take marine reserves generally increase over time. The magnitude and timing of changes in these response variables, however, vary greatly and depend upon the taxonomic groups protected, size and type of reserve, oceanographic regime, and time since the reserve was implemented. We conducted collaborative, fishery-independent surveys of fishes for seven years in and near newly created marine protected areas (MPAs) in central California, USA. Results showed that initially most MPAs contained more and larger fishes than associated reference sites, likely due to differences in habitat quality. The differences between MPAs and reference sites did not greatly change over the se

SUBMITTER: Starr RM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4356516 | biostudies-literature | 2015

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature