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Response of Rocky Reef Top Predators (Serranidae: Epinephelinae) in and Around Marine Protected Areas in the Western Mediterranean Sea
- Source :
- PLoS ONE, PLoS ONE, 2014, 9 (6), pp.e98206. ⟨10.1371/journal.pone.0098206⟩, RUA. Repositorio Institucional de la Universidad de Alicante, Universidad de Alicante (UA), PLoS ONE, Public Library of Science, 2014, 9 (6), pp.e98206. ⟨10.1371/journal.pone.0098206⟩, PLoS ONE, Vol 9, Iss 6, p e98206 (2014)
- Publication Year :
- 2014
- Publisher :
- HAL CCSD, 2014.
-
Abstract
- Groupers species are extremely vulnerable to overfishing and many species are threatened worldwide. In recent decades, Mediterranean groupers experienced dramatic population declines. Marine protected areas (MPAs) can protect populations inside their boundaries and provide individuals to adjacent fishing areas through the process of spillover and larval export. This study aims to evaluate the effectiveness of six marine reserves in the Western Mediterranean Sea to protect the populations of three species of grouper, Epinephelus marginatus, Epinephelus costae and Mycteroperca rubra, and to understand in which circumstances MPAs are able to export biomass to neighbouring areas. All the studied MPAs, except one where no grouper was observed, were able to maintain high abundance, biomass and mean weight of groupers. Size classes were more evenly distributed inside than outside MPAs. In two reserves, biomass gradients could be detected through the boundaries of the reserve as an indication of spillover. In some cases, habitat structure appeared to exert a great influence on grouper abundance, biomass and mean individual weight, influencing the gradient shape. Because groupers are generally sedentary animals with a small home range, we suggest that biomass gradients could only occur where groupers attain sufficient abundance inside MPA limits, indicating a strongly density-dependent process. This work was developed in the framework of the EC Project BIOMEX (QLRT-2001-0891). The authors express thanks to the National Council for Technology and Science Development (CNPq-MCT, Brazil, for Brazilian acronym) from the Ministry of Science of Brazil for giving personal financial support to CWH (Proc: 200630/2008-3), and to the Fundación BBVA (Foundation of Bilbao-Viscaya Bank, Spain) for additional support.
- Subjects :
- Biomass (ecology)
Serranidae
lcsh:Medicine
Marine and Aquatic Sciences
Mediterranean
Marine Conservation
Marine protected areas
Zoología
Biomass
lcsh:Science
Marine biology
Islands
education.field_of_study
Multidisciplinary
Protection
biology
Ecology
Marine reserve
Marine Ecology
Fishes
Habitats
Top predators
Mycteroperca
Coastal Ecology
Research Article
Ecological Metrics
Population
Groupers
Marine fish
Marine reserves
Mediterranean Sea
Animals
14. Life underwater
education
[SDU.STU.OC]Sciences of the Universe [physics]/Earth Sciences/Oceanography
Overfishing
lcsh:R
Ecology and Environmental Sciences
fungi
Epinephelus marginatus
Biology and Life Sciences
Fisheries Science
biology.organism_classification
Groupers species
Biomass exportation
Fishery
Predatory Behavior
Threatened species
Conservation science
Earth Sciences
lcsh:Q
Marine protected area
Bass
Population Ecology
[SDE.BE]Environmental Sciences/Biodiversity and Ecology
Animal Distribution
Subjects
Details
- Language :
- English
- ISSN :
- 19326203
- Database :
- OpenAIRE
- Journal :
- PLoS ONE, PLoS ONE, 2014, 9 (6), pp.e98206. ⟨10.1371/journal.pone.0098206⟩, RUA. Repositorio Institucional de la Universidad de Alicante, Universidad de Alicante (UA), PLoS ONE, Public Library of Science, 2014, 9 (6), pp.e98206. ⟨10.1371/journal.pone.0098206⟩, PLoS ONE, Vol 9, Iss 6, p e98206 (2014)
- Accession number :
- edsair.doi.dedup.....ffd9d9075b9e55d87ceae261f10d2ee0