2020 |
Geffroy, B., et al. "A world for reactive phenotypes." Front. Conserv. Sci.. 1 (2020).
Résumé: Humans currently occupy all continents and by doing so, modify the environment and create novel threats to many species; a phenomenon known as human-induced rapid environmental changes (HIREC). These growing anthropogenic disturbances represent major and relatively new environmental challenges for many animals, and invariably alter selection on traits adapted to previous environments. Those species that survive often have modified their habitat or their phenotype through plasticity or genetic evolution. Based on the most recent advances in this research area, we predict that wild individuals with highly plastic capacities, those that are generally shy – in other words, individuals displaying a reactive phenotype – should better cope with sudden and widespread HIREC than their counterparts’ proactive phenotypes. If true, this selective response would have profound ecological and evolutionary consequences and can therefore impact conservation strategies, specifically with respect to managing the distribution and abundance of individuals and maintaining evolutionary potential. These insights may help design adaptive management strategies to maintain genetic variation in the context of HIREC.
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Geffroy, B., et al. "Evolutionary dynamics in the Anthropocene: Life history and intensity of human contact shape antipredator responses." PLOS Biology. 18.9 (2020): e3000818.
Résumé: Humans profoundly impact landscapes, ecosystems, and animal behavior. In many cases, animals living near humans become tolerant of them and reduce antipredator responses. Yet, we still lack an understanding of the underlying evolutionary dynamics behind these shifts in traits that affect animal survival. Here, we used a phylogenetic meta-analysis to determine how the mean and variability in antipredator responses change as a function of the number of generations spent in contact with humans under 3 different contexts: urbanization, captivity, and domestication. We found that any contact with humans leads to a rapid reduction in mean antipredator responses as expected. Notably, the variance among individuals over time observed a short-term increase followed by a gradual decrease, significant for domesticated animals. This implies that intense human contact immediately releases animals from predation pressure and then imposes strong anthropogenic selection on traits. In addition, our results reveal that the loss of antipredator traits due to urbanization is similar to that of domestication but occurs 3 times more slowly. Furthermore, the rapid disappearance of antipredator traits was associated with 2 main life-history traits: foraging guild and whether the species was solitary or gregarious (i.e., group-living). For domesticated animals, this decrease in antipredator behavior was stronger for herbivores than for omnivores or carnivores and for solitary than for gregarious species. By contrast, the decrease in antipredator traits was stronger for gregarious, urbanized species, although this result is based mostly on birds. Our study offers 2 major insights on evolution in the Anthropocene: (1) changes in traits occur rapidly even under unintentional human “interventions” (i.e., urbanization) and (2) there are similarities between the selection pressures exerted by domestication and by urbanization. In all, such changes could affect animal survival in a predator-rich world, but through understanding evolutionary dynamics, we can better predict when and how exposure to humans modify these fitness-related traits.
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Gueroun, S. K. M., et al. "Population dynamics and predatory impact of the alien jellyfish Aurelia solida (Cnidaria, Scyphozoa) in the Bizerte Lagoon (southwestern Mediterranean Sea)." Mediterr. Mar. Sci.. 21.1 (2020): 22–35.
Résumé: Understanding the life cycle strategies and predatory impact of alien jellyfish species is critical to mitigate the impact that these organisms may have on local populations, biodiversity, and ultimately on the functioning of food webs. In the Mediterranean Sea, little is known about the dynamics of alien jellyfish, despite this biodiversity hotspot being one of the most threatened areas by increasing numbers of alien jellyfish. Here, we investigated the population dynamics and predatory impact of a non-indigenous scyphomedusa, Aurelia solida Browne 1905, in the Bizerte Lagoon, Tunisia. The study was based on bimonthly surveys performed over two consecutive years, from November 2012 to August 2014. Field observations showed that the planktonic phase of A. solida occurs from winter to early summer. Prey composition was investigated by means of gut content and field zooplankton analyses. Calanoid copepods, mollusc larvae, and larvaceans represented the main food items of A. solida. To determine the jellyfish feeding rate and their predatory impact on zooplankton populations, the digestion time for zooplankton prey was assessed at three different temperatures: 13, 18, and 23 degrees C in laboratory conditions, corresponding to the average range of temperatures encountered by A. solida in the Bizerte Lagoon. We found that A. solida consumed 0.5-22.5% and 0.02-37.3% of the daily zooplankton standing stock in 2013 and 2014, respectively. These results indicate a non-negligible but restricted seasonal grazing impact on some mesozooplankton groups, explained by the relatively short lifespan of the medusa stage (5-6 months).
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Javidpour, J., et al. "Cannibalism makes invasive comb jelly, Mnemiopsis leidyi, resilient to unfavourable conditions." Commun. Biol.. 3.1 (2020).
Résumé: The proliferation of invasive marine species is often explained by a lack of predators and opportunistic life history traits. For the invasive comb jelly Mnemiopsis leidyi, it has remained unclear how this now widely distributed species is able to overcome long periods of low food availability, particularly in their northernmost exotic habitats in Eurasia. Based on both field and laboratory evidence, we show that adult comb jellies in the western Baltic Sea continue building up their nutrient reserves after emptying the prey field through a shift to cannibalizing their own larvae. We argue, that by creating massive late summer blooms, the population can efficiently empty the prey field, outcompete intraguild competitors, and use the bloom events to build nutrient reserves for critical periods of prey scarcity. Our finding that cannibalism makes a species with typical opportunistic traits more resilient to environmental fluctuations is important for devising more effective conservation strategies. Javidpour et al. use high-frequency field data, geochemical-isotopic analysis, and modeling of prey-predator dynamics of the comb jelly in the western Baltic Sea to show that adult comb jellies cannibalize their own larvae. This shift to cannibalism allows adults to build nutrient reserves for periods of prey scarcity and sheds light on the ability of this invasive species to thrive amidst environmental fluctuations.
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Schiettekatte, N. M. D., et al. "Nutrient limitation, bioenergetics and stoichiometry: A new model to predict elemental fluxes mediated by fishes." Funct. Ecol.. 34.9 (2020): 1857–1869.
Résumé: Energy flow and nutrient cycling dictate the functional role of organisms in ecosystems. Fishes are key vectors of carbon (C), nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) in aquatic systems, and the quantification of elemental fluxes is often achieved by coupling bioenergetics and stoichiometry. While nutrient limitation has been accounted for in several stoichiometric models, there is no current implementation that permits its incorporation into a bioenergetics approach to predict ingestion rates. This may lead to biased estimates of elemental fluxes. Here, we introduce a theoretical framework that combines stoichiometry and bioenergetics with explicit consideration of elemental limitations. We examine varying elemental limitations across different trophic groups and life stages through a case study of three trophically distinct reef fishes. Further, we empirically validate our model using an independent database of measured excretion rates. Our model adequately predicts elemental fluxes in the examined species and reveals species- and size-specific limitations of C, N and P. In line with theoretical predictions, we demonstrate that the herbivoreZebrasoma scopasis limited by N and P, and all three fish species are limited by P in early life stages. Further, we show that failing to account for nutrient limitation can result in a greater than twofold underestimation of ingestion rates, which leads to severely biased excretion rates. Our model improved predictions of ingestion, excretion and egestion rates across all life stages, especially for fishes with diets low in N and/or P. Due to its broad applicability, its reliance on many parameters that are well-defined and widely accessible, and its straightforward implementation via the accompanyingr-packagefishflux, our model provides a user-friendly path towards a better understanding of ecosystem-wide nutrient cycling in the aquatic biome. A freePlain Language Summarycan be found within the Supporting Information of this article.
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2019 |
Marques, R., et al. "Molecular approach indicates consumption of jellyfish by commercially important fish species in a coastal Mediterranean lagoon." Marine Environmental Research. 152 (2019): 104787.
Résumé: Until recently, jellyfish have been ignored as an important source of food, due to their low nutritional value. Here, quantitative PCR was used to detect and quantify the DNA of the jellyfish Aurelia coerulea in the gut contents of commercially important fish species from the Thau Lagoon. Individuals from five fish species were collected during two different periods: the bloom period, when the pelagic stages of A. coerulea are abundant, and the post-bloom period, when only the benthic stage – polyps – is present in the lagoon. The DNA of A. coerulea was detected in the guts of 41.9% of the fish analysed, belonging to four different species. The eel Anguilla anguilla and the seabream Sparus aurata were important jellyfish consumers during the bloom and post-bloom periods, respectively. These results provide new insights on the potential control of jellyfish populations and on jellyfish importance as a food source for exploited fishes.
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2018 |
Queiros, Q., et al. "Dolphin predation pressure on pelagic and demersal fish in the northwestern Mediterranean Sea." Mar. Ecol.-Prog. Ser.. 603 (2018): 13–27.
Résumé: Sardine Sardina pilchardus, anchovy Engraulis encrasicolus and European hake Merluccius merluccius represent a significant part of the commercial landings in the Gulf of Lions (northwestern Mediterranean Sea). However, their stocks have shown severe declines during the last decades due to fishing pressure and/or environmental changes. The aim of this study was to estimate the current predation pressure of bottlenose dolphins Tursiops truncatus and striped dolphins Stenella coeruleoalba – which are abundant in the area-on sardine, anchovy and hake. To do so, we developed an original approach based on several data sets and models (aerial surveys, stomach contents, allometric and stock assessment models) and Monte Carlo simulations to incorporate various sources of uncertainty due to data limitations. Despite the uncertainties, the results showed that dolphin predation pressure on sardine and anchovy was extremely low in the Gulf of Lions (all simulations <0.5 % of the available stock), indicating little impact of dolphins on those populations. However, significant predation pressure on hake (median value: 23 %) was detected, a value which might have doubled in the last 30 yr because of hake overfishing. Overexploitation has thus reinforced the natural mortality of hake due to dolphin predation, but this predation pressure remains 2 to 3 times lower than that exerted by fisheries.
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Ramirez-Romero, E., et al. "Quantifying top-down control and ecological traits of the scyphozoan Aurelia aurita through a dynamic plankton model." J. Plankton Res.. 40.6 (2018): 678–692.
Résumé: Aurelia aurita (Linneaus, 1758) is a cosmopolitan scyphozoan, probably the most investigated jellyfish in temperate and highly productive coastal ecosystems. Despite a prominent top-down control in plankton food webs, a mechanistic understanding of A. aurita population dynamics and trophic interactions has been barely addressed. Here we develop a food web dynamic model to assess A. aurita role in the seasonal plankton dynamics of the Kiel Fjord, southwestern Baltic Sea. The model couples low trophic level dynamics, based on a classical Nutrient Phytoplankton Zooplankton Detritus (NPZD) model, to a stage-resolved copepod model (referencing Pseudocalanus sp.) and a jellyfish model (A. aurita ephyra and medusa) as consumers and predators, respectively. Simulations showed the relevance of high abundances of A. aurita, which appear related with warm winter temperatures, promoting a shift from a copepod-dominated food web to a ciliate and medusa dominated one. The model captured the intraspecific competition triggered by the medusae abundance and characterized by a negative relationship between population density and individual size/weight. Our results provide a mechanistic understanding of an emergent trait such as size shaping the food web functioning, driving predation rates and population dynamics of A. aurita, driving its sexual reproductive strategy at the end of the pelagic phase.
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Reynolds, P. L., et al. "Latitude, temperature, and habitat complexity predict predation pressure in eelgrass beds across the Northern Hemisphere." Ecology. 99.1 (2018): 29–35.
Résumé: Latitudinal gradients in species interactions are widely cited as potential causes or consequences of global patterns of biodiversity. However, mechanistic studies documenting changes in interactions across broad geographic ranges are limited. We surveyed predation intensity on common prey (live amphipods and gastropods) in communities of eelgrass (Zostera marina) at 48 sites across its Northern Hemisphere range, encompassing over 37 degrees of latitude and four continental coastlines. Predation on amphipods declined with latitude on all coasts but declined more strongly along western ocean margins where temperature gradients are steeper. Whereas insitu water temperature at the time of the experiments was uncorrelated with predation, mean annual temperature strongly positively predicted predation, suggesting a more complex mechanism than simply increased metabolic activity at the time of predation. This large-scale biogeographic pattern was modified by local habitat characteristics; predation declined with higher shoot density both among and within sites. Predation rates on gastropods, by contrast, were uniformly low and varied little among sites. The high replication and geographic extent of our study not only provides additional evidence to support biogeographic variation in predation intensity, but also insight into the mechanisms that relate temperature and biogeographic gradients in species interactions.
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2017 |
Krause, J., et al. "Injury-mediated decrease in locomotor performance increases predation risk in schooling fish." Philos. Trans. R. Soc. B-Biol. Sci.. 372.1727 (2017): 20160232.
Résumé: The costs and benefits of group living often depend on the spatial position of individuals within groups and the ability of individuals to occupy preferred positions. For example, models of predation events for moving prey groups predict higher mortality risk for individuals at the periphery and front of groups. We investigated these predictions in sardine (Sardinella aurita) schools under attack from group hunting sailfish (Istiophorus platypterus) in the open ocean. Sailfish approached sardine schools about equally often from the front and rear, but prior to attack there was a chasing period in which sardines attempted to swim away from the predator. Consequently, all sailfish attacks were directed at the rear and peripheral positions of the school, resulting in higher predation risk for individuals at these positions. During attacks, sailfish slash at sardines with their bill causing prey injury including scale removal and tissue damage. Sardines injured in previous attacks were more often found in the rear half of the school than in the front half. Moreover, injured fish had lower tail-beat frequencies and lagged behind uninjured fish. Injuries inflicted by sailfish bills may, therefore, hinder prey swimming speed and drive spatial sorting in prey schools through passive self-assortment. We found only partial support for the theoretical predictions from current predator-prey models, highlighting the importance of incorporating more realistic predator-prey dynamics into these models. This article is part of the themed issue 'Physiological determinants of social behaviour in animals'.
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2016 |
Amélineau, F., et al. "Where to Forage in the Absence of Sea Ice? Bathymetry As a Key Factor for an Arctic Seabird." Plos One. 11.7 (2016): e0157764.
Résumé: The earth is warming at an alarming rate, especially in the Arctic, where a marked decline in sea ice cover may have far-ranging consequences for endemic species. Little auks, endemic Arctic seabirds, are key bioindicators as they forage in the marginal ice zone and feed preferentially on lipid-rich Arctic copepods and ice-associated amphipods sensitive to the consequences of global warming. We tested how little auks cope with an ice-free foraging environment during the breeding season. To this end, we took advantage of natural variation in sea ice concentration along the east coast of Greenland. We compared foraging and diving behaviour, chick diet and growth and adult body condition between two years, in the presence versus nearby absence of sea ice in the vicinity of their breeding site. Moreover, we sampled zooplankton at sea when sea ice was absent to evaluate prey location and little auk dietary preferences. Little auks foraged in the same areas both years, irrespective of sea ice presence/concentration, and targeted the shelf break and the continental shelf. We confirmed that breeding little auks showed a clear preference for larger copepod species to feed their chick, but caught smaller copepods and nearly no ice-associated amphipod when sea ice was absent. Nevertheless, these dietary changes had no impact on chick growth and adult body condition. Our findings demonstrate the importance of bathymetry for profitable little auk foraging, whatever the sea-ice conditions. Our investigations, along with recent studies, also confirm more flexibility than previously predicted for this key species in a warming Arctic.
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2015 |
David, C., et al. "Understanding winter distribution and transport pathways of the invasive ctenophore Mnemiopsis leidyi in the North Sea: coupling habitat and dispersal modelling approaches." Biol. Invasions. 17.9 (2015): 2605–2619.
Résumé: The invasive ctenophore Mnemiopsis leidyi has been reported in various coastal locations in the southern North Sea in the past years. Since 2009, International Bottom Trawl Surveys have recorded this species each winter in open waters. As this species, well-known for its dramatic disturbance of ecosystems, was expected not to be able to overwinter offshore it is crucial to understand its distribution dynamics. Two modelling methods, a quantile regression and a particle tracking model, were used (1) to identify habitats where the invasive ctenophore M. leidyi could survive the North Sea cold winters and (2) to investigate the dispersal of individuals between these different habitats, emphasizing favorable areas where sustainable populations could have been established. Temperature was found to be the crucial factor controlling the winter distribution of M. leidyi in the North Sea. High abundance predictions in winter were associated with low values of temperature, which characterise south-eastern coastal areas and estuaries influenced by riverine runoff. A retention-based M. leidyi population was indicated along the northern Dutch coast and German Bight and a transport-based population offshore from the western Danish coast. Individuals found in the open waters were transported from southern coasts of the North Sea, thus the open water population densities depend on the flux of offspring from these areas. This study provides the first estimates of the overwinter areas of this invasive species over the cold winters in the North Sea. Based on the agreement of habitat and dispersal model results, we conclude that M. leidyi has become established along south-eastern coasts of the North Sea where the environment conditions allows overwintering and it can be retained for later blooms.
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McKenzie, D. J., et al. "To boldly gulp: standard metabolic rate and boldness have context-dependent influences on risk-taking to breathe air in a catfish." J. Exp. Biol.. 218.23 (2015): 3762–3770.
Résumé: The African sharptooth catfish Clarias gariepinus has bimodal respiration, it has a suprabranchial air-breathing organ alongside substantial gills. We used automated bimodal respirometry to reveal that undisturbed juvenile catfish (N=29) breathed air continuously in normoxia, with a marked diurnal cycle. Air breathing and routine metabolic rate (RMR) increased in darkness when, in the wild, this nocturnal predator forages. Aquatic hypoxia (20% air saturation) greatly increased overall reliance on air breathing. We investigated whether two measures of risk taking to breathe air, namely absolute rates of aerial O-2 uptake ((M) over dotO(2), air) and the percentage of RMR obtained from air (% (M) over dotO(2), air), were influenced by individual standard metabolic rate (SMR) and boldness. In particular, whether any influence varied with resource availability (normoxia versus hypoxia) or relative fear of predation (day versus night). Individual SMR, derived from respirometry, had an overall positive influence on (M) over dotO(2), air across all contexts but a positive influence on % (M) over dotO(2), air only in hypoxia. Thus, a pervasive effect of SMR on air breathing became most acute in hypoxia, when individuals with higher O-2 demand took proportionally more risks. Boldness was estimated as time required to resume air breathing after a fearful stimulus in daylight normoxia (T-res). Although T-res had no overall influence on (M) over dotO(2), air or % (M) over dotO(2), air, there was a negative relationship between Tres and % (M) over dotO(2), air in daylight, in normoxia and hypoxia. There were two Tres response groups, 'bold' phenotypes with Tres below 75 min (N= 13) which, in daylight, breathed proportionally more air than 'shy' phenotypes with Tres above 115 min (N= 16). Therefore, individual boldness influenced air breathing when fear of predation was high. Thus, individual energy demand and personality did not have parallel influences on the emergent tendency to take risks to obtain a resource; their influences varied in strength with context.
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van Gils, J. A., et al. "Moving on with foraging theory: incorporating movement decisions into the functional response of a gregarious shorebird." Journal of Animal Ecology. 84 (2015): 554–564.
Résumé: 1. Models relating intake rate to food abundance and competitor density (generalized functional response models) can predict forager distributions and movements between patches, but we lack understanding of how distributions and small-scale movements by the foragers themselves affect intake rates. Using a state-of-the-art approach based on continuous-time Markov chain dynamics, we add realism to classic functional response models by acknowledging that the chances to encounter food and competitors are influenced by movement decisions, and, vice versa, that movement decisions are influenced by these encounters. We used a multi-state modelling framework to construct a stochastic functional response model in which foragers alternate between three behavioural states: searching, handling and moving. Using behavioural observations on a molluscivore migrant shorebird (red knot, Calidris canutus canutus), at its main wintering area (Banc d'Arguin, Mauritania), we estimated transition rates between foraging states as a function of conspecific densities and densities of the two main bivalve prey. Intake rate decreased with conspecific density. This interference effect was not due to decreased searching efficiency, but resulted from time lost to avoidance movements. Red knots showed a strong functional response to one prey (Dosinia isocardia), but a weak response to the other prey (Loripes lucinalis). This corroborates predictions from a recently developed optimal diet model that accounts for the mildly toxic effects due to consuming Loripes. Using model averaging across the most plausible multi-state models, the fully parameterized functional response model was then used to predict intake rate for an independent data set on habitat choice by red knot. Comparison of the sites selected by red knots with random sampling sites showed that the birds fed at sites with higher than average Loripes and Dosinia densities, that is sites for which we predicted higher than average intake rates. We discuss the limitations of Holling's classic functional response model which ignores movement and the limitations of contemporary movement ecological theory that ignores consumer-resource interactions. With the rapid advancement of technologies to track movements of individual foragers at fine spatial scales, the time is ripe to integrate descriptive tracking studies with stochastic movement-based functional response models.
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2013 |
Maury, O., and J. - C. Poggiale. "From individuals to populations to communities: A dynamic energy budget model of marine ecosystem size-spectrum including life history diversity." Journal of Theoretical Biology. 324 (2013): 52–71.
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2012 |
van Gils, J. A., et al. "Trophic cascade induced by molluscivore predator alters pore-water biogeochemistry via competitive release of prey." Ecology. 93 (2012): 1143–1152.
Résumé: Effects of predation may cascade down the food web. By alleviating interspecific competition among prey, predators may promote biodiversity, but the precise mechanisms of how predators alter competition have remained elusive. Here we report on a predator-exclosure experiment carried out in a tropical intertidal ecosystem, providing evidence for a three-level trophic cascade induced by predation by molluscivore Red Knots (Calidris canutus) that affects pore water biogeochemistry. In the exclosures the knots' favorite prey (Dosinia isocardia) became dominant and reduced the individual growth rate in an alternative prey (Loripes lucinalis). Dosinia, a suspension feeder, consumes suspended particulate organic matter (POM), whereas Loripes is a facultative mixotroph, partly living on metabolites produced by sulfur-oxidizing chemoautotrophic bacteria, but also consuming suspended POM. Reduced sulfide concentrations in the exclosures suggest that, without predation on Dosinia, stronger competition for suspended POM forces Loripes to rely on energy produced by endosymbiotic bacteria, thus leading to an enhanced uptake of sulfide from the surrounding pore water. As sulfide is toxic to most organisms, this competition-induced diet shift by Loripes may detoxify the environment, which in turn may facilitate other species. The inference that predators affect the toxicity of their environment via a multi-level trophic cascade is novel, but we believe it may be a general phenomenon in detritus-based ecosystems.
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2011 |
Potier, M., et al. "Lenght and weight estimates from diagnostic hard part structures of fish, crustacea and cephalopods forage species in the western Indian Ocean." Environmental Biology of Fishes (2011).
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2009 |
Chassot, E., et al. "Role of predation by harp seals Pagophilus groenlandicus in the collapse and non-recovery of northern Gulf of St. Lawrence cod Gadus morhua." Mar. Ecol.-Prog. Ser.. 379 (2009): 279–297.
Résumé: A statistical catch-at-age model was developed to assess the effects of predation by the northwest Atlantic harp seal population on northern Gulf of St. Lawrence cod by estimating the relative importance of different sources of mortality that affected the stock during a period of collapse and non-recovery. Cod recruitment at age 1 is modeled via a non-linear stock-recruitment relationship based on total egg production and accounts for changes in female length-at-maturity and cod condition. Natural mortality other than seal predation also depends on cod condition used as an integrative index of changes in environmental conditions. The linkage between seals and cod is modeled through a multi-age functional response that was derived from the reconstruction of the seal diet using morphometric relationships and stomach contents of more than 200 seals collected between 1998 and 2001. The model was fitted following a maximum likelihood estimation approach to a scientific survey abundance index (1984 to 2006). Model results show that the collapse of the northern Gulf of St. Lawrence cod stock was mainly due to the combination of high fishing mortality rates and poor environmental conditions in the early to mid-1990s contributing to the current state of recruitment overfishing. The increase in harp seal abundance during 1984 to 2006 was reflected by an increase in predation mortality for the young cod age-groups targeted by seals. Although current levels of predation mortality affect cod spawning biomass, the lack of recovery of the NGSL cod stock seems mainly due to the very poor recruitment.
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Travers, M., et al. "Two-way coupling versus one-way forcing of plankton and fish models to predict ecosystem changes in the Benguela." Ecological Modelling. 220.21 (2009): 3089–3099.
Résumé: 'End-to-end' models have been adopted in an attempt to capture more of the processes that influence the ecology of marine ecosystems and to make system wide predictions of the effects of fishing and climate change. Here, we develop an end-to-end model by coupling existing models that describe the dynamics of low (ROMS-N(2)P(2)Z(2)D(2)) and high trophic levels(OSMOSE). ROMS-N(2)P(2)Z(2)D(2) is a biogeochemical model representing phytoplankton and zooplankton seasonal dynamics forced by hydrodynamics in the Benguela upwelling ecosystem. OSMOSE is an individual-based model representing the dynamics of several species of fish, linked through opportunistic and size-based trophic interactions. The models are coupled through a two-way size-based predation process. Plankton provides prey for fish, and the effects of predation by fish on the plankton are described by a plankton mortality term that is variable in space and time. Using the end-to-end model, we compare the effects of two-way coupling versus one-way forcing of the fish model with the plankton biomass field. The fish-induced mortality on plankton is temporally variable, in part explained by seasonal changes in fish biomass. Inclusion of two-way feedback affects the seasonal dynamics of plankton groups and usually reduces the amplitude of variation in abundance (top-down effect). Forcing and coupling lead to different predicted food web structures owing to changes in the dominant food chain which is supported by plankton (bottom-up effect). Our comparisons of one-way forcing and two-way coupling show how feedbacks may affect abundance, food web structure and food web function and emphasise the need to critically examine the consequences of different model architectures when seeking to predict the effects of fishing and climate change.
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2008 |
Chassot, E., et al. "Investigating trophic-level variability in Celtic Sea fish predators." Journal of Fish Biology. 73.4 (2008): 763–781.
Résumé: The trophic level (TL) mean and variance, and the degree of omnivory for five Celtic Sea fish predators were estimated using a database of stomach content records characterized by a high level of taxonomic resolution. The predators occupied a high position in the food web, i.e. 4·75 for Atlantic cod Gadus morhua, 4·44 for haddock Melanogrammus aeglefinus, 4·88 for European hake Merluccius merluccius, 5·00 for megrim Lepidorhombus whiffiagonis and 5·27 for whiting Merlangius merlangus. The level of taxonomic resolution of the prey did not greatly affect mean TL predator values; an effect on variance was evident, low resolution masking intra-population variability in TL. Generalized additive models (GAM) were used to explain the variability of predator TL caused by environmental variables (International Council for the Exploration of the Sea, ICES, division and season) and predator characteristics (total length, LT). Significant year, location season and interaction effects were found for some species and with LT at the scale of ICES subdivision. The species-specific variability of TL could be due to spatio-temporal variations in prey availability and in predator selectivity following ontogenetic changes. Omnivorous fish TL was less affected by spatio-temporal variations. In addition, results showed that the omnivory index and TL variability provide dissimilar information on predator feeding strategy. Combining information on TL variability and omnivory allowed between within-individual and between-individual components contributing to trophic niche width to be separated and the type of generalization of fish predators to be identified.
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