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Author Spotlight: Unveiling Plankton Response to Climate Change Through Time-Series Data and Artistic Expression
Published on: July 28, 2023
Changes in trophic structure of an exploited fish community at the centennial scale are linked to fisheries and
Leonardo Durante1, Stephen Wing2, Travis Ingram3
1Department of Marine Science, University of Otago, PO Box 56, Dunedin, New Zealand. leo_durante7@hotmail.com.
Abstract:
Understanding how marine food webs are affected by anthropogenic stressors is an important steppingstone toward the improved management of natural resources. Stable isotope analysis of historical and modern samples spanning a century indicated that the niche width of an exploited fish community increased after the expansion of New Zealand fisheries. Since the 2000s most species increased their reliance on food webs supported by pelagic production, compared to coastal production supported by macroalgae, and shifted to a higher trophic level. Overall changes were coincident with ocean warming, climate oscillations, prey abundance and fishing intensity, but their effects were specific to each fish assemblage analyzed. Data derived from historical samples revealed how anthropogenic stressors can drive long-term shifts in the trophic structure of an exploited fish community.
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