Trophodynamics of the eastern Great Australian Bight ecosystem: Ecological change associated with the growth of Australia's largest fishery

Goldsworthy, Simon; Page, Brad; Rogers, Paul; Bulman, CM; Wiebkin, Annelise; McLeay, L. J.; Einoder, Luke D.; Baylis, Alastair M. M.; Braley, Michelle; Caines, Robin; Daly, Keryn; Huveneers, Charlie; Peters, Kristian J.; Lowther, Andrew D.; Ward, Tim M.

doi:10.1016/j.ecolmodel.2013.01.006

Cited by 44 publications

(17 citation statements)

References 52 publications

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“…The area south of Java is also known to be a spawning area for southern bluefin tuna (Farley and Davis, ), which target similar prey to those consumed by shortfin makos. This migratory linkage, along with the shared affinity for pelagic foraging areas in the Great Australian Bight during juvenile stages (Bestley et al ., ; Goldsworthy et al ., ), represents evidence of habitat‐overlaps between Scombrids and Lamnids in this region, which is interesting given their co‐evolution of physiological traits for maintenance of high metabolic outputs (Bernal et al ., ,b; Sepulveda et al ., ).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…This ecosystem is driven by a combination of continental shelf and slope currents, up-and down-welling, coastal upwelling and extended intrusions of warm, tropical Leeuwin Current water masses from the NE Indian Ocean (Middleton and Bye, 2007). This region has recently been identified as a globally significant 'hotspot' for resident and migratory apex predators (Goldsworthy et al, 2013). This complex environment supports a large proportion of Australia's total fishery production and is a centre for small pelagic and southern bluefin tuna (Thunnus maccoyii) fisheries and mariculture.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Living on the continental shelf edge: habitat use of juvenile shortfin makos Isurus oxyrinchus in the Great Australian Bight, southern Australia

Rogers

Huveneers

Page³

et al. 2015

Fisheries Oceanography

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We used satellite telemetry data to investigate the movement patterns and habitat use of juvenile shortfin makos Isurus oxyrinchus (Lamnidae) tagged in the Great Australian Bight, southern Australia. Tracking durations ranged from 49-672 days and six deployments were > 1 year. During winter and spring, some shortfin makos migrated to the tropical NE Indian Ocean and Coral Sea, and the Subtropical Front region. One shortfin mako undertook an extended migration of 25 550 km across the Indian Ocean. Areas characterized by sea-mounts in the NE Indian Ocean, the oceanic Subtropical Front region, and the continental shelf edge (200-m depth) and slope canyons were visited by several sharks. Juvenile shortfin makos used the outer continental shelf, the shelf edge, the slope and oceanic waters during migrations and mostly exhibited fidelity in the mid-outer shelf, the shelf edge and slope habitats characterized by high bathymetric relief and oceanographic frontal gradients. Our findings highlighted that the continental shelf and slope and associated submarine canyons of the Great Australian Bight represent ecologically important habitats for juvenile shortfin makos. The findings of this study will be pertinent during future management processes for this highly migratory species in this Southern Hemisphere region.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Living on the continental shelf edge: habitat use of juvenile shortfin makos Isurus oxyrinchus in the Great Australian Bight, southern Australia

Rogers

Huveneers

Page³

et al. 2015

Fisheries Oceanography

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“…The Atlantis endto-end model has been applied to the southern Benguela Current System (Smith et al 2015). Similar models have been used to characterize the food web off southern Australia, which includes a major sardine stock, with particular attention to interactions between species, including seals and squid (Goldsworthy et al 2013). The Mediterranean Sea has been fished heavily, and equilibrium models provide insight into the importance of top-down effects on the ecosystems, including on anchovy (Halouani et al 2015, Piroddi et al 2015.…”

Section: Modelsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Climate, Anchovy, and Sardine

Checkley

Asch

Rykaczewski

2017

Annu. Rev. Mar. Sci.

175

129

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Anchovy and sardine populated productive ocean regions over hundreds of thousands of years under a naturally varying climate, and are now subject to climate change of equal or greater magnitude occurring over decades to centuries. We hypothesize that anchovy and sardine populations are limited in size by the supply of nitrogen from outside their habitats originating from upwelling, mixing, and rivers. Projections of the responses of anchovy and sardine to climate change rely on a range of model types and consideration of the effects of climate on lower trophic levels, the effects of fishing on higher trophic levels, and the traits of these two types of fish. Distribution, phenology, nutrient supply, plankton composition and production, habitat compression, fishing, and acclimation and adaptation may be affected by ocean warming, acidification, deoxygenation, and altered hydrology. Observations of populations and evaluation of model skill are essential to resolve the effects of climate change on these fish.

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“…Many ecosystem models do not factor in the ecological differences between marine mammals and fish, and amongst different species of marine mammals. One exception to that is the models developed by Goldsworthy and colleagues (, ), where a combination of population bioenergetic, spatial, and trophic approaches were used for assessing the trophic interactions between marine mammals and fisheries in Australia. In a widely used approach such as Ecopath with Ecosim (EwE; Christensen et al .…”

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confidence: 99%

Assessing the trophic impacts of marine mammals: From metabolism to food web indices

Morissette¹,

Brodie²

2014

Marine Mammal Science

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Marine mammals are an important part of ecosystems, and their trophic role and potential impact have been increasingly studied. One key question is how these large animals interact with fisheries or compete for similar resources. Consequently, some models once used only for fisheries management are now including pinnipeds and cetaceans. However, fish and marine mammals do not share the same ecology and bioenergetics, and complex ecosystem models may not be the best way to assess the impact of pinnipeds or cetaceans in food webs. Indeed, simpler methods based on thermodynamics might give us reasonable answers with limited amounts of data. Here, we present an assessment of two different approaches to assess the trophic role of marine mammals in the northern Gulf of St. Lawrence (Canada): mixed trophic impacts (MTI) based on ecosystem modeling and surface index (SI) impact based on bioenergetics. Our results show that while modeling represents a good way of getting a holistic view of the role of marine mammals in ecosystems, trophic impact estimates based on fundamental thermodynamics principles can also give us answers requiring less data. The body surface area approach presented here might provide a practical tool for ecologists, who are not necessarily ecosystem modelers, to study this issue.In recent years, there has been an increasing number of attempts to adapt ecosystem models to fisheries management. So far, the majority of fish and marine mammal species have been assessed on the basis of biomass (Brodie 1984), an approach used for the great majority of ecosystem models (Plag anyi 2007). While this modeling method may be adequate for fish, it may not be the best way to evaluate the impact of other components of the ecosystem, such as marine mammals. Indeed, fish are poikilothermic, while seals and cetaceans maintain mammalian body temperatures against the thermal gradient of their environment. Therefore, using the same assumptions for all trophic groups in ecosystem models is not appropriate. Most attempts at ecosystem modeling for management have been developed for fisheries management purposes, thus most of the equations structuring the models are based on fisheries sciences rather than representing the ecology of marine mammals.

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Trophodynamics of the eastern Great Australian Bight ecosystem: Ecological change associated with the growth of Australia's largest fishery

Cited by 44 publications

References 52 publications

Living on the continental shelf edge: habitat use of juvenile shortfin makos Isurus oxyrinchus in the Great Australian Bight, southern Australia

Living on the continental shelf edge: habitat use of juvenile shortfin makos Isurus oxyrinchus in the Great Australian Bight, southern Australia

Climate, Anchovy, and Sardine

Assessing the trophic impacts of marine mammals: From metabolism to food web indices

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