Alteration of coastal productivity and artisanal fisheries interact to affect a marine food web.

ABSTRACT: Top-down and bottom-up forces determine ecosystem function and dynamics. Fisheries as a top-down force can shorten and destabilize food webs, while effects driven by climate change can alter the bottom-up forces of primary productivity. We assessed the response of a highly-resolved intertidal food web to these two global change drivers, using network analysis and bioenergetic modelling. We quantified the relative importance of artisanal fisheries as another predator species, and evaluated the independent and combined effects of fisheries and changes in plankton productivity on food web dynamics. The food web was robust to the loss of all harvested species but sensitive to the decline in plankton productivity. Interestingly, fisheries dampened the negative impacts of decreasing plankton pro

SUBMITTER: Avila-Thieme MI 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7815714 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature