Historical ecology and the conservation of large, hermaphroditic fishes in Pacific Coast kelp forest ecosystems

Abstract

Zooarchaeological data are essential for rethinking conservation policies of hermaphroditic fish and building sustainable fisheries.

Back to the future? Late Holocene marine food web structure in a warm climatic phase as a predictor of trophodynamics in a warmer South‐Western Atlantic Ocean

“…The C baseline may change because of changes in total primary productivity, in the relative contribution of several types of primary producers (Hill, McQuaid, & Kaehler, ) and also because of the Suess effect, caused by the massive release of 13 C‐depleted CO 2 to the atmosphere because of the massive burning of fossil fuels since the Industrial Revolution (Eide, Olsen, Ninnemann, & Eldevik, ). Research dealing with zooarchaeological samples usually correct for the Suess effect (e.g., Braje et al, ; Chamberlain et al, ; Szpak et al, ; Zangrando, Riccialdelli, et al, ), but often forget about the impact of variables amounts of lipids on the δ 13 C values of skeletal remains (Bas & Cardona, ; Guiry et al, ). As a result, lipid removal from zooarchaeological samples is still uncommon and likely to confound the interpretation of results (e.g., Braje et al, ; Robson et al, ; Szpak et al, ; Szpak, Orchard, Salomon, & Gröcke, ).…”

“…This conclusion is extremely important, because previous studies comparing the stable isotope ratios of predators in ancient and modern food webs often assumed that the topology of the prey community within the δ 13 C–δ 15 N space had not changed throughout time and used modern topologies to interpret changes in the stable isotope ratios of predators (Braje et al, ; Szpak et al, ; Vales et al, ; Zenteno, Crespo, et al, ). The results reported here reveal that topologies within the δ 13 C–δ 15 N space are not necessarily stable and hence modern topologies offer only a coarse guide to interpret the stable isotope ratios of ancient predators.…”

“…Research dealing with zooarchaeological samples usually correct for the Suess effect (e.g., Braje et al, 2017;Chamberlain et al, 2005;Szpak et al, 2018;Zangrando, Riccialdelli, et al, 2016), but often forget about the impact of variables amounts of lipids on the δ 13 C values of skeletal remains (Bas & Cardona, 2018;Guiry et al, 2016). As a result, lipid removal from zooarchaeological samples is still uncommon and likely to confound the interpretation of results (e.g., Braje et al, 2017;Robson et al, 2012;Szpak et al, 2009;Szpak, Orchard, Salomon, & Gröcke, 2013). Here, we removed lipids from all the samples analysed and latter corrected mathematically the δ 13 C values to cope with incomplete delipidation treatment, except those of eelpout (from Riccialdelli et al, 2017).…”

“…One way to improve the accuracy of predictions of global warming on the structure of marine food webs is through the analysis of the structure of ancient marine food web from previous, warmer periods throughout the Holocene (Mayewski et al, 2004;Wanner et al, 2008). The analysis of stable isotopes of C and N in the skeletal elements of ancient marine animals offers insights into their diets and thus is becoming increasingly popular to reconstruct changes in the structure of ancient marine food webs (Braje et al, 2017;Saporiti, Bearhop, et al, 2014;Szpak, Buckley, Darwent, & Richards, 2018). Shell middens resulting from the activity of ancient Hunter-Fisher-Gatherer (HFG) societies often contain diverse assemblages of skeletal remains of marine fauna (e.g., Corbett et al, 2008;Szpak, Orchard, & Gröcke, 2009;Tivoli & Zangrando, 2011) and provide a unique opportunity to reconstruct the structure of ancient food webs.…”

Archaeology, historical ecology and anthropogenic island ecosystems

“…to the islands starting at least 6000 years ago (Rick 2013;Hofman et al 2015). Preliminary studies also suggest that the average size of some prey fish species was significantly larger in the past than they are today (Braje et al 2012(Braje et al , 2017.…”