Journal article
The global susceptibility of coastal forage fish to competition by large jellyfish
Competition between large jellyfish and forage fish for zooplankton prey is both a possible cause of jellyfish increases and a concern for the management of marine ecosystems and fisheries. Identifying principal factors affecting this competition is therefore important for marine management, but the lack of both good quality data and a robust theoretical framework have prevented general global analyses.
Here, we present a general mechanistic food web model that considers fundamental differences in feeding modes and predation pressure between fish and jellyfish. The model predicts forage fish dominance at low primary production, and a shift towards jellyfish with increasing productivity, turbidity and fishing.
We present an index of global ecosystem susceptibility to shifts in fish–jellyfish dominance that compares well with data on jellyfish distributions and trends. The results are a step towards better understanding the processes that govern jellyfish occurrences globally and highlight the advantage of considering feeding traits in ecosystem models.
Language: | English |
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Publisher: | The Royal Society |
Year: | 2016 |
Pages: | 20161931-20161931 |
ISSN: | 14712954 and 09628452 |
Types: | Journal article |
DOI: | 10.1098/rspb.2016.1931 |
ORCIDs: | Schnedler-Meyer, Nicolas Azaña , Kiørboe, Thomas and Mariani, Patrizio |
SDG 14 - Life Below Water competition environmental drivers fish jellyfish blooms trait-based model water clarity
Animals Conservation of Natural Resources Ecosystem Fisheries Fishes Food Chain Scyphozoa