2023 Early Hearing Detection & Intervention Conference
March 5-7, 2023 • Cincinnati, OH
5/24/2018 | 3:15 PM - 3:30 PM | EFFECTS OF RIVERINE RESERVES ON FISH ABUNDANCE, BIOMASS, AND TROPHIC DYNAMICS | 410 B
EFFECTS OF RIVERINE RESERVES ON FISH ABUNDANCE, BIOMASS, AND TROPHIC DYNAMICS
Intensive fishing is altering the functioning of aquatic ecosystems worldwide, threatening both biodiversity and food security. Conservation reserves are a cornerstone of ecosystem-based fisheries management and provide unique opportunities to evaluate food web responses to removal of large species. We compared fish diversity, abundance, and biomass within two small reserves (< 1 km in length) to adjacent upstream and downstream reaches in a 1,000 km2 tributary system of the Salween River. Overlaid on the stark differences in fishing pressure, we isolated consumptive and non-consumptive effects of fish on benthic macroinvertebrates and algae using exclosures within and outside reserves. Within each exclosure, we tested the strength of top-down versus bottom-up effects on primary producers by experimentally manipulating nutrient availability to benthic algae. Protection from fishing profoundly reconfigured fish communities, increasing richness, biomass, and body size. However, it did not translate into higher mean trophic position or intensify cascade strength. We infer that ecosystem functioning is buffered against extreme harvest pressure by omnivory and species richness. Our findings indicate that networks of small, community-based reserves strongly benefit fish, potentially augmenting fishery yields and offering a new conservation model for biodiverse tropical rivers.
- Fish
- Tropical Rivers
- Ecosystem
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Presenters/Authors
Aaron Koning
(), University of Wisconsin-Madison Center for Limnology, koning@wisc.edu;
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Peter B. McIntyre
(), Cornell University, pbm3@cornell.ecu;
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