Marine reserves promote cycles in fish populations on ecological and evolutionary time scales.
Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A
; 120(47): e2307529120, 2023 Nov 21.
Article
em En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-37956293
ABSTRACT
Marine reserves are considered essential for sustainable fisheries, although their effectiveness compared to traditional fisheries management is debated. The effect of marine reserves is mostly studied on short ecological time scales, whereas fisheries-induced evolution is a well-established consequence of harvesting. Using a size-structured population model for an exploited fish population of which individuals spend their early life stages in a nursery habitat, we show that marine reserves will shift the mode of population regulation from low size-selective survival late in life to low, early-life survival due to strong resource competition. This shift promotes the occurrence of rapid ecological cycles driven by density-dependent recruitment as well as much slower evolutionary cycles driven by selection for the optimal body to leave the nursery grounds, especially with larger marine reserves. The evolutionary changes increase harvesting yields in terms of total biomass but cause disproportionately large decreases in yields of larger, adult fish. Our findings highlight the importance of carefully considering the size of marine reserves and the individual life history of fish when managing eco-evolutionary marine systems to ensure both population persistence as well as stable fisheries yields.
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Texto completo:
1
Base de dados:
MEDLINE
Assunto principal:
Ecossistema
/
Conservação dos Recursos Naturais
Limite:
Animals
Idioma:
En
Ano de publicação:
2023
Tipo de documento:
Article