Examining Causes and Trends in Marine Trophic Level Change: 1500 Years of Fish Exploitation at Fatu-ma-Futi, Tutuila Island, American Sāmoa

Trophic level changes of fishery catches in Lake Chaohu, Anhui Province, China: Trends and causes

“…However, the decrease of MTL observed here (0.03 TL per decade) is lower than that estimated by previous studies for marine ecosystems in a global scale (Pauly et al, 1998(Pauly et al, , 2001Jennings et al, 2002;Arancibia and Neira, 2005;Milessi et al, 2005;Morrison, 2010). The long-term changes of the MTL of fisheries catches can also be plotted against catch levels.…”

“…For example, trends in the trophic level of fishery catches have been examined in a variety of aquatic ecosystems (e.g. Pinnegar et al, 2003;Baeta et al, 2009;Morrison, 2010), following Pauly et al (1998), who estimated the mean trophic level of the species groups reported in Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) global fisheries statistics and found a general decline from 1950 to 1994, now widely known as "fishing down marine food webs". Such decline in trophic level is suggested to reflect a gradual transition in the catches (and in the ecosystem, given an unselective fishery) from long-lived, high trophic level, piscivorous bottom fish to short-lived, low trophic level invertebrates and planktivorous pelagic fish (Pauly et al, 1998).…”

Fishing Down a Prehistoric Caribbean Marine Food Web: Isotopic Evidence From Punta Candelero, Puerto Rico

“…Indeed, the observed pattern is entirely consistent with overfishing seen elsewhere in the ancient Caribbean (Newsom and Wing 2004;Wing 2001aWing , 2001b, and studies of fishing during historic and modern times in the region (Hawkins and Roberts 2004), and globally (Bellwood et al 2004;Hughes 1994;Pauly et al 1998), whereby fishing down the food web occurs. Other archaeological examples of fishing down have been observed in places and times as diverse as: the Upper Paleolithic through Chalcolithic Periods in Andalusia, Spain (Morales and Roselló 2004); the Archaic through Formative Periods in Guerrero, Mexico (Kennett et al 2008); between roughly 4500 and 3500 BP in the Gulf of Maine, USA (Bourque et al 2008); from 1620 and 150 cal BP on Tutuila Island, American Samoa (Morrison and Addison 2009); and between 1450 BC and AD 1600 in northeastern Florida, USA (Reitz 2004).…”

“…While the deleterious effects of large-scale industrialized fishing techniques are well-known (Idyll 1973;Myers et al 1997), a debate continues about the capability of less intense artisanal fishing pressures to bring about similar, if more localized, changes in the composition of fish communities (contrast, for instance Bailey et al 2008;Bourque et al 2008;Dalzell 1998;Hawkins and Roberts 2004;Kennett et al 2008;Morales and Roselló 2004; Fishing Down a Prehistoric Caribbean Food Web Morrison and Addison 2009;Reitz 2004;Rick et al 2008;Wing 2001b). Through the use of carbon and nitrogen stable isotope analysis of human paleodiet, the present work examines evidence of change in marine trophic composition in a fifth-eleventh-century AD skeletal sample from the site of Punta Candelero, municipio of Humacao, Puerto Rico.…”

Pre‐contact fish choice and foraging efficiency at Tula, American Sāmoa

“…Nagaoka's () and Morrison and Addison's (, ) studies documented stability in the capture of marine invertebrates and bony fish over two millennia. Considering the time depth of occupation for Sāmoa (Rieth & Hunt ), a lack of variation in marine faunal assemblages due to human predation and/or climatic factors is surprising.…”