Comparing Apples to Oranges: Common Trends and Thresholds in Anthropogenic and Environmental Pressures across Multiple Marine Ecosystems
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 understandin...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , , , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Frontiers Media S.A.
2017-09-01
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| Series: | Frontiers in Marine Science |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://journal.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/fmars.2017.00282/full |
| _version_ | 1818474904176033792 |
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| author | Jamie C. Tam Jason S. Link Scott I. Large Kelly Andrews Kevin D. Friedland Jamison Gove Elliott Hazen Kirstin Holsman Mandy Karnauskas Jameal F. Samhouri Rebecca Shuford Nick Tomilieri Stephani Zador |
| author_facet | Jamie C. Tam Jason S. Link Scott I. Large Kelly Andrews Kevin D. Friedland Jamison Gove Elliott Hazen Kirstin Holsman Mandy Karnauskas Jameal F. Samhouri Rebecca Shuford Nick Tomilieri Stephani Zador |
| author_sort | Jamie C. Tam |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | 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. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-14T04:42:49Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-89f5f08e4db54370884ae262fa53b532 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2296-7745 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-14T04:42:49Z |
| publishDate | 2017-09-01 |
| publisher | Frontiers Media S.A. |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Frontiers in Marine Science |
| spelling | doaj.art-89f5f08e4db54370884ae262fa53b5322022-12-22T02:11:35ZengFrontiers Media S.A.Frontiers in Marine Science2296-77452017-09-01410.3389/fmars.2017.00282285987Comparing Apples to Oranges: Common Trends and Thresholds in Anthropogenic and Environmental Pressures across Multiple Marine EcosystemsJamie C. Tam0Jason S. Link1Scott I. Large2Kelly Andrews3Kevin D. Friedland4Jamison Gove5Elliott Hazen6Kirstin Holsman7Mandy Karnauskas8Jameal F. Samhouri9Rebecca Shuford10Nick Tomilieri11Stephani Zador12NOAA Fisheries, National Marine Fisheries ServiceWoods Hole, MA, United StatesNOAA Fisheries, National Marine Fisheries ServiceWoods Hole, MA, United StatesInternational Council for the Exploration of the SeasCopenhagen, DenmarkNOAA Fisheries, Northwest Fisheries Science CenterSeattle, WA, United StatesNOAA Fisheries, Northeast Fisheries Science CenterNarragansett, RI, United StatesNOAA Fisheries, Pacific Island Fisheries Science CenterHonolulu, HI, United StatesNOAA Fisheries, Southwest Fisheries Science CenterMonterey Bay, CA, United StatesNOAA Fisheries, Alaska Fisheries Science CenterSeattle, WA, United StatesNOAA Fisheries, Southeast Fisheries Science CenterMiami, FL, United StatesNOAA Fisheries, Northwest Fisheries Science CenterSeattle, WA, United StatesNOAA Fisheries, Office of Science and TechnologySilver Spring, MD, United StatesNOAA Fisheries, Northwest Fisheries Science CenterSeattle, WA, United StatesNOAA Fisheries, Alaska Fisheries Science CenterSeattle, WA, United StatesEcosystem-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.http://journal.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/fmars.2017.00282/fullecosystem-based managementgradient forestthresholds-based reference pointsecological indicatorsanthropogenic and environmental pressurescomparative analysis |
| spellingShingle | Jamie C. Tam Jason S. Link Scott I. Large Kelly Andrews Kevin D. Friedland Jamison Gove Elliott Hazen Kirstin Holsman Mandy Karnauskas Jameal F. Samhouri Rebecca Shuford Nick Tomilieri Stephani Zador Comparing Apples to Oranges: Common Trends and Thresholds in Anthropogenic and Environmental Pressures across Multiple Marine Ecosystems Frontiers in Marine Science ecosystem-based management gradient forest thresholds-based reference points ecological indicators anthropogenic and environmental pressures comparative analysis |
| title | Comparing Apples to Oranges: Common Trends and Thresholds in Anthropogenic and Environmental Pressures across Multiple Marine Ecosystems |
| title_full | Comparing Apples to Oranges: Common Trends and Thresholds in Anthropogenic and Environmental Pressures across Multiple Marine Ecosystems |
| title_fullStr | Comparing Apples to Oranges: Common Trends and Thresholds in Anthropogenic and Environmental Pressures across Multiple Marine Ecosystems |
| title_full_unstemmed | Comparing Apples to Oranges: Common Trends and Thresholds in Anthropogenic and Environmental Pressures across Multiple Marine Ecosystems |
| title_short | Comparing Apples to Oranges: Common Trends and Thresholds in Anthropogenic and Environmental Pressures across Multiple Marine Ecosystems |
| title_sort | comparing apples to oranges common trends and thresholds in anthropogenic and environmental pressures across multiple marine ecosystems |
| topic | ecosystem-based management gradient forest thresholds-based reference points ecological indicators anthropogenic and environmental pressures comparative analysis |
| url | http://journal.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/fmars.2017.00282/full |
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