Humans as a Hyperkeystone Species

Worm, Boris; Paine, Robert T.

doi:10.1016/j.tree.2016.05.008

Cited by 95 publications

(81 citation statements)

References 69 publications

(97 reference statements)

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“…It should also be obvious that ecological processes and patterns can no longer be explained http://www.ecologyandsociety.org/vol21/iss3/art41/ without considering the human influences in these (Turner et al 1990, Levin 1999, Palumbi 2001, Ehrlich and Ehrlich 2008, Ellis 2015, Worm and Paine 2016. Clearly, the social and the ecological are linked in the form of coupled human-environment systems or coupled human and natural systems (Turner et al 2003, Liu et al 2007.…”

Section: Intertwined Social-ecological Systemsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Social-ecological resilience and biosphere-based sustainability science

Folke¹,

Biggs²,

Norström³

et al. 2016

E&S

784

585

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ABSTRACT. Humanity has emerged as a major force in the operation of the biosphere. The focus is shifting from the environment as externality to the biosphere as precondition for social justice, economic development, and sustainability. In this article, we exemplify the intertwined nature of social-ecological systems and emphasize that they operate within, and as embedded parts of the biosphere and as such coevolve with and depend on it. We regard social-ecological systems as complex adaptive systems and use a social-ecological resilience approach as a lens to address and understand their dynamics. We raise the challenge of stewardship of development in concert with the biosphere for people in diverse contexts and places as critical for long-term sustainability and dignity in human relations. Biosphere stewardship is essential, in the globalized world of interactions with the Earth system, to sustain and enhance our lifesupporting environment for human well-being and future human development on Earth, hence, the need to reconnect development to the biosphere foundation and the need for a biosphere-based sustainability science.

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Section: Intertwined Social-ecological Systemsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Social-ecological resilience and biosphere-based sustainability science

Folke¹,

Biggs²,

Norström³

et al. 2016

E&S

784

585

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“…One key result is that, at an ecosystem-level, removals of biomass (via landings-based exploitation) do have repeatable and consistent thresholds. There are different ecological mechanisms in which such ecosystem-level responses can be observed, but consistently there is an impact to overall size, congruent with overfishing theory, as well as tendencies toward smaller organisms with hyper-exploitation (Pauly et al, 1998;Pauly and Palomares, 2005;Shackell et al, 2010;Darimont et al, 2015;Worm and Paine, 2016). This exploitation impacts the biomass composition in an entire ecosystem, shifting either biodiversity or measures of biomass ratios (e.g., pelagic to demersal) and implies that exploitation selectively impacts certain facets of an ecosystem consistent with what is known for the ecological effects of targeted fisheries (Shin et al, 2005;Jennings and Collingridge, 2015).…”

Section: Patterns In Ecosystem Trends and Thresholdsmentioning

confidence: 63%

“…There is a sense of urgency to develop management and policy that supports ecosystem-level sustainability and conservation given the current global demand for living marine resources and marine ecosystem services (Pauly and Palomares, 2005;Mollmann et al, 2014;Worm and Paine, 2016). The thresholds presented in this study offer guidance toward developing quantifiable, defensible and robust reference points in policy and management for sustainable marine ecosystems.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 94%

“…For example, it has been found that the concentration of fishing on large, predatory species can destabilize ecosystems, resulting in a loss of biodiversity and increasing blooms of lower-trophic organisms, often undesirable species like jellyfish (Pauly et al, 1998;Purcell et al, 2007). More recently, the position of humans within food-webs has been categorized as "hyperkeystone" (Worm and Paine, 2016) or as "super predators" (Milius, 2015), indicating that the current impacts of humans on food webs (marine or otherwise) could lead not only to lower abundances of predatory species, but also size-stunted predator populations with an impaired ability to regulate prey species even in rebuilding scenarios (Darimont et al, 2015). Here we present ecosystem thresholds that can be used as reference points to support coordinated efforts to develop sustainable fisheries via EBM policies that support rebuilding strategies for depleted fish stocks, ecosystem aggregate yield limits, and to explore the social tradeoffs and potential social benefits of changing how we use living marine resources (Murawski, 2000;Balmford, 2002;Howarth and Farber, 2002;Rosenberg et al, 2007;Worm et al, 2009;Khan and Neis, 2010;Link, 2010;Plagányi et al, 2014;DePiper et al, in press).…”

Section: Thresholds As Reference Points In Managementmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Comparing Apples to Oranges: Common Trends and Thresholds in Anthropogenic and Environmental Pressures across Multiple Marine Ecosystems

et al. 2017

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Ecosystem-based management (EBM) in marine ecosystems considers impacts caused by complex interactions between environmental and anthropogenic pressures (i.e., oceanographic, climatic, socio-economic) and marine communities. EBM depends, in part, on ecological indicators that facilitate understanding of inherent properties and the dynamics of pressures within marine communities. Thresholds of ecological indicators delineate ecosystem status because they represent points at which a small increase in one or many pressure variables results in an abrupt change of ecosystem responses. The difficulty in developing appropriate thresholds and reference points for EBM lies in the multidimensionality of both the ecosystem responses and the pressures impacting the ecosystem. Here, we develop thresholds using gradient forest for a suite of ecological indicators in response to multiple pressures that convey ecosystem status for large marine ecosystems from the US Pacific, Atlantic, sub-Arctic, and Gulf of Mexico. We detected these thresholds of ecological indicators based on multiple pressures. Commercial fisheries landings above approximately 2-4.5 t km −2 and fisheries exploitation above 20-40% of the total estimated biomass (of invertebrates and fish) of the ecosystem resulted in a change in the direction of ecosystem structure and functioning in the ecosystems examined. Our comparative findings reveal common trends in ecosystem thresholds along pressure gradients and also indicate that thresholds of ecological indicators are useful tools for comparing the impacts of environmental and anthropogenic pressures across multiple ecosystems. These critical points can be used to inform the development of EBM decision criteria.

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“…In the particular case of top avian predators, we argue here that we need experimental evidence as well as long-term empirical data on their role in food webs. Worm and Paine (2016) have suggested that food webs provide a useful conceptual platform on which ecological consequences of such global environmental changes can be mapped, knowledge gaps identified and predictions generated. Among the most significant patterns already identified, the disruption of trophic cascades by changing animal and plant communities in human-transformed ecosystems critically needs further research to predict the robustness or fragility of ecosystem states (Montoya et al 2006).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%