Changes in trophic structure of an exploited fish community at the centennial scale are linked to fisheries and climate forces

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.

Institute Profile: Victoria University of Wellington's Coastal Ecology Laboratory—A Uniquely Situated Research Facility for Subtidal and Intertidal Biology

“…There are several key areas of research focus for staff at the Coastal Ecology Laboratory. These include a strong focus on climate change research (Micaroni et al 2022; Krieger et al 2023), population and community ecology (Shima and Swearer 2016; Carrington et al 2021; Bell et al 2022), and fisheries/marine protection (Eddy et al 2014; Rogers et al 2018; Durante et al 2022). Although we are situated in the temperate zone, we also have a strong focus on coral reef biology, with most of our academics comparing temperate and tropical ecosystem trends in community ecology, eco‐physiology, climate change impacts, and fisheries.…”

Limnology and Oceanography Bulletin Volume 32 Number 4 November 2023 125‐155

“…There are several key areas of research focus for staff at the Coastal Ecology Laboratory. These include a strong focus on climate change research (Micaroni et al 2022;Krieger et al 2023), population and community ecology (Shima and Swearer 2016;Carrington et al 2021;Bell et al 2022), and fisheries/ marine protection (Eddy et al 2014;Rogers et al 2018;Durante et al 2022). Although we are situated in the temperate zone, we also have a strong focus on coral reef biology, with most of our academics comparing temperate and tropical ecosystem trends in community ecology, eco-physiology, climate change impacts, and fisheries.…”

Water-Level Fluctuation Control of the Trophic Structure of a Yangtze River Oxbow

“…Stable isotope analysis (SIA) is a powerful and widely employed tool for examining energy flows and nutrient pathways within the food webs of various aquatic ecosystems [17,18]. This methodology enables the identification of dietary variability, feeding strategies, trophic positions, trophic niche shifts, and nutrient sources within food webs [19][20][21].…”