Reef Fishes at All Trophic Levels Respond Positively to Effective Marine Protected Areas.

ABSTRACT: 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 r

SUBMITTER: Soler GA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4603671 | biostudies-literature | 2015

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature