Synchrony — An emergent property of recreational fisheries

Abstract

Recreational fisheries are traditionally managed at local scales, but more effective management could be achieved using a cross‐scale approach. To do this, we must first understand how local processes scale up to influence landscape patterns between anglers and resources. We highlight how population‐based synchrony methods, used in conjunction with a complex‐adaptive‐systems framework, can reveal emergent spatial properties within social‐ecological systems such as recreational fisheries. Herein, we quantified the level of spatial synchrony in angler behaviour, defined the relationship between angler synchrony and distance among waterbodies, and highlighted social‐ecological attributes contributing to these patterns. We leveraged a 111 waterbody‐year (34 waterbodies, 5‐year collection period) recreational fisheries dataset from Nebraska, USA to address these objectives. Intra‐annual patterns in angler behaviour were moderately synchronous across large spatial scales and predominately unrelated to distance among waterbodies. Large‐scale synchronous patterns in angler behaviour emerged from local‐scale interactions between angler heterogeneity and waterbody diversity. Spatial synchrony in angler behaviour is an emergent property that resulted from local‐level processes that scaled up to form large‐scale patterns. We posit that angler utility in combination with waterbodies sharing these desired utility components caused spatial synchrony among anglers with similar preferences or specializations. The level of spatial synchrony in angler behaviour will therefore depend on the degree of angler heterogeneity and waterbody diversity on the landscape, with high or low levels of both leading to low and high levels of spatial synchrony respectively. Synthesis and applications. Synchrony‐based methods proved useful for unveiling an emergent property in recreational fisheries that is beneficial for effective cross‐scale management. It may not be appropriate to extrapolate information and apply uniform management actions among local waterbodies because angler behaviour was not synchronous at small scales. Rather, anglers respond uniquely to waterbody diversity and therefore substitute waterbodies may be dispersed throughout the landscape. Creating boat access, for example could yield unintended consequences for a particular angler group and cause local and regional shifts in angler behaviour. Evaluating appropriate management options will require a cross‐scale monitoring approach that captures angler heterogeneity and waterbody diversity at multiple scales.

Ecosystem size predicts social-ecological dynamics

“…Previous work identified relationships between the size of fishing grounds and social responses of anglers in the Czech Republic (Lyach and Čech 2018). Water body size appeared to play an important role in the regional synchrony of angler behavior, an emergent property of recreational fisheries (Kaemingk et al 2018). The sheer number of extra small public water bodies that are patchily distributed in Nebraska (90% of total) could lead to other unique emergent properties in angler behavior.…”

“…Discrete water body groups may further be responsible for creating the number of discrete angler types within a given region. Angler utility would then be derived and optimized from existing water body sizes, ultimately leading to complex cross-scale interactions between patchily distributed anglers and water bodies across the landscape (Kaemingk et al 2018, Matsumura et al 2019. These intricate angler-water body interactions could explain, in part, our observed scale-dependent angler-resource relationships.…”

“…Angler surveys were conducted during a single year or multiple years at a water body (mean: 4 years, range: 1-9 years) across the 48 water bodies sampled. We surveyed anglers onsite at each water body according to previously described methods (Malvestuto et al 1996, Kaemingk et al 2018. Briefly, our survey design followed a stratified multistage probability sampling regime to determine sampling within each month; monthly sampling was stratified by day type, i.e., week day, weekend day, and by day periods, i.e., morning, afternoon, within each day (Malvestuto 1996).…”

“…In the same way, identifying discontinuities and scale domains for water body size could highlight unique processes that structure angler behavior and recreational fishery dynamics. We have reason to believe that discontinuous angler types do not respond linearly or in a continuous manner to water body size (Kaemingk et al 2018). Therefore, this approach provides a meaningful way to (1) quantitatively group water bodies (into their respective scale domains) that adhere to similar patterns and processes and (2) assess how important angler attributes will change across and within these previously identified water body-size groups (referred to as water body groups).…”

Viewing communities as coupled oscillators: elementary forms from Lotka and Volterra to Kuramoto

“…The most obvious utility of such an approach is where synchronous dynamics are the focus of investigation (e.g. Earn et al,1998;Blasius et al, 199;Liebhold et al, 2004 ), and may have practical implications for the management of fisheries (Kaemingk et al, 2018), the planning complex biological control systems in agroecosystems (Vandermeer et al, 2019), or conservation (Earn et al, 2000).…”