Functional diversity of catch mitigates negative effects of temperature variability on fisheries yields.

ABSTRACT: Temperature variation within a year can impact biological processes driving population abundances. The implications for the ecosystem services these populations provide, including food production from marine fisheries, are poorly understood. Whether and how temperature variability impacts fishery yields may depend on the number of harvested species and differences in their responses to varying temperatures. Drawing from previous theoretical and empirical studies, we predict that greater temperature variability within years will reduce yields, but harvesting a larger number of species, especially a more functionally diverse set, will decrease this impact. Using a global marine fisheries dataset, we find that within-year temperature variability reduces yields, but current levels of functiona

SUBMITTER: Dee LE 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5013776 | biostudies-literature | 2016 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature