Further action on bycatch could boost United States fisheries performance     

《Marine Policy》2015

This paper examines the sustainability of United States fisheries managed under the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act, the law that provides the framework for federal fisheries management. Sustainability across a broad suite of criteria, including health of the fished stock, bycatch, and effects on the habitat and ecosystem, was measured against the Monterey Bay Aquarium׳s Seafood Watch criteria for ecological sustainability. Seafood Watch ratings and numerical scores for U.S. federally managed fisheries were analyzed to elucidate strengths and weaknesses among federally-managed fisheries. Of U.S. federally managed fisheries assessed by Seafood Watch, only 2% are rated “Avoid”, and strong ratings for stock health for nearly all fisheries indicate that the Magnuson-Stevens Act is fundamentally succeeding at maintaining or rebuilding the abundance of targeted stocks. The majority (79%) of U.S. fisheries earn the intermediate rating of “Good Alternative”, and 19% earn the top rating of “Best Choice”. Given that U.S. fisheries management is considered among the strongest in the world, this analysis assesses why the majority of U.S. fisheries are not rated “Best Choice”. Fisheries for all variety of species, and using a wide range of fishing methods, can merit “Best Choice” status. However, the majority of U.S. fisheries do not achieve this rating due primarily to bycatch concerns. By improving performance with regard to bycatch, most “Good Alternative” U.S. federal fisheries could reach “Best Choice” status and reap rewards in the marketplace for that recognition. Findings suggest that current science-based management should be maintained in the Magnuson-Stevens Act reauthorization, managers should adopt best practices based on fisheries that are already performing well in the U.S., and more specific federal bycatch mitigation requirements should be implemented.  相似文献   

Historical influences on the current provision of multiple ecosystem services     

《Global Environmental Change》2015

Ecosystem service provision varies temporally in response to natural and human-induced factors, yet research in this field is dominated by analyses that ignore the time-lags and feedbacks that occur within socio-ecological systems. The implications of this have been unstudied, but are central to understanding how service delivery will alter due to future land-use/cover change. Urban areas are expanding faster than any other land-use, making cities ideal study systems for examining such legacy effects. We assess the extent to which present-day provision of a suite of eight ecosystem services, quantified using field-gathered data, is explained by current and historical (stretching back 150 years) landcover. Five services (above-ground carbon density, recreational use, bird species richness, bird density, and a metric of recreation experience quality (continuity with the past) were more strongly determined by past landcover. Time-lags ranged from 20 (bird species richness and density) to over 100 years (above-ground carbon density). Historical landcover, therefore, can have a strong influence on current service provision. By ignoring such time-lags, we risk drawing incorrect conclusions regarding how the distribution and quality of some ecosystem services may alter in response to land-use/cover change. Although such a finding adds to the complexity of predicting future scenarios, ecologists may find that they can link the biodiversity conservation agenda to the preservation of cultural heritage, and that certain courses of action provide win-win outcomes across multiple environmental and cultural goods.  相似文献   

厦门国家级珍稀海洋物种自然保护区文昌鱼(Branchiostoma belcheri)种群健康评价     

黄良敏  黎中宝  吝涛  李元跃  陈融斌  王家樵  陈强  李军 《海洋与湖沼》2013,44(1):103-110

利用2009-2010年四个季度月用底栖生物抓斗式采样器捕获的文昌鱼样品,从其资源分布、年龄结构、生物学和生态学特征等方面对厦门国家级珍稀海洋物种自然保护区文昌鱼的种群健康状况进行评价研究.结果表明:(1)文昌鱼种群资源分布衰减趋势明显,只在黄厝—前埔海区、小嶝岛—角屿海区和南线—十八线海区3个核心区还有分布,但资源密度低,分布范围狭小,而在鳄鱼屿实验区未能发现.(2)文昌鱼体重与体长之间关系:W=6.6895×10-4L3.1818;体长与体质量生长方程分别为:厶=65.63[1-e-0.68(t+032)],Wt=404.62[1-e-0.68(t+032)]3.1818;夏季、冬季航次的优势体长组分别为25-35mm和35-45mm,优势体重组分别为25-50mg和50-100mg;秋季低龄鱼较多,而冬季高龄鱼比例较高.(3)采用ELEFAN Ⅰ技术分析了厦门文昌鱼的Von Bertalanffy生长参数K、L∞、总死亡系数Z、自然死亡系数M和开发率E,发现其生长参数K值较大,自然死亡系数较高,开发率较大(0.69).综之,厦门自然保护区内的文昌鱼种群健康状况整体不佳,应注意资源保护,加强保护文昌鱼栖息地的底质和水质以及防止过度捕捞以实现其资源可持续利用.  相似文献   

我国沿海马尾藻属(Sargassum)的物种多样性及其区系分布特征   总被引：1，自引：1，他引：0  

黄冰心  丁兰平  谭华强  孙国栋 《海洋与湖沼》2013,44(1):69-76

通过对我国沿海多次野外实地考查以及文献报道,采用统计学的分析方法,研究了马尾藻属海藻资源的物种构成和区系分布特征.结果表明,马尾藻属种数在我国海域的水平分布呈现出北少南多的趋势,黄、东海仅17种,南海达到124种、占世界马尾藻总数的36.47％.其中,黄海西区、东海西区、南海北区和南海南区种数及小区单一分布种类数分别为10、13、82和61种及2、3、52和42种.我国特有种类为64种、占世界尾藻总数的18.82％.在我国沿海马尾藻的垂直分布特征为:高潮带2种,低潮带91种,潮下带78种.  相似文献   

浙江南部沿岸产卵场春、夏季鱼卵、仔稚鱼种类组成与分布   总被引：1，自引：0，他引：1  

周永东  金海卫  张洪亮  蒋日进  潘国良 《海洋与湖沼》2013,44(3):590-598

根据2011年4月、5月与6月对浙江南部沿岸产卵场进行的共3个航次的调查资料,对该海域的鱼卵、仔稚鱼的种类组成和数量分布进行了分析,结果表明,共发现鱼卵、仔稚鱼72个种类,分别隶属11目38科48属。其中鱼卵29种,分别隶属6目18科24属;仔稚鱼55种,分别隶属10目29科40属。4—6月仔稚鱼数量呈逐月递减的趋势,而鱼卵数量6月最多,5月最少。鱼卵优势种4月以斑鰶、棱鱚、小黄鱼与蓝点马鲛为主,5月以斑鰶、鳀、龙头鱼、银鲳、蓝点马鲛与石首鱼科为主,6月以鳀、龙头鱼、多鳞鱚与鲱科鱼类为主;仔稚鱼优势种4月以虾虎鱼类、褐菖鲉与平鲉科为主,5月以鳀、虾虎鱼类、棱鱚、斑鰶与长鳍篮子鱼为主,6月以鳀与虾虎鱼类为主。斑鰶、鲳鱼、小黄鱼、棱鱚、蓝点马鲛与褐菖鲉的产卵盛期为4月,而鳀与龙头鱼的产卵盛期为6月。  相似文献   

杭州湾海域春、秋季鱼类种类组成和数量分布   总被引：8，自引：0，他引：8  

谢旭  俞存根  周青松  李德伟  叶深  郑基  余求妹 《海洋与湖沼》2013,44(3):656-663

采用底层拖网法,用渔获率作为鱼类资源数量分布的指标,进行了杭州湾调查海域2012年5月(春季)、10月(秋季)2个季节的鱼类种类组成、区系特点、数量分布等研究。结果表明:(1)杭州湾海域春、秋两季共获得并鉴定出的鱼类有31种,隶属于9目15科,其中以石首鱼科和■虎鱼科的种类为最多,各有5种,分别占总种数的16.7%;鳀科鱼类次之,有4种,占总种数的13.3%,优势种有睛尾蝌蚪■虎鱼、龙头鱼、刀鲚、棘头梅童鱼;(2)根据鱼类适温性可将该海域的鱼类分为暖水性、暖温性和冷温性3种适温类型,以暖温性种类为主,暖水性种类次之,而冷温性种类极少,仅有1种;(3)根据其生态习性,可分为河口性、沿岸性和近海性3种生态类群;(4)渔获数量分布规律是春季在调查海域的内侧或者说中西部较高,而湾口较低,秋季则正好相反。  相似文献   

Higher species diversity occurs in more fertile habitats without fertilizer disturbance in an alpine natural grassland community     

Dong Wang  Gao-Lin Wu  Xiao-Feng Chang  Zhi-Hua Shi  Lei Sun  Xue-Hong Wei 《山地科学学报》2014,11(3):755-761

Are there some relationships among species diversity and soil chemical properties of high altitude natural grasslands？ Plant community composition and chemical properties of soil samples were compared to investigate the relationship between soil and species diversity, and the richness in Tibetan alpine grasslands. Results showed that species diversity was significantly positively related to soil organic matter （SOM）, total nitrogen （TN）, available nitrogen （AN）, total phosphorus （TP）, available phosphorus （AP）, and available potassium （AK） in the high alpine grasslands. Margalefs species richness index was also significantly positively related to SOM, TN, AN, and TP. Most soil chemical properties showed significantly positive correlation with species diversity and Margalef＇s richness index. Our results suggested that higher plant species richness index and diversity occurred in more fertile soil habitats in high altitude natural grassland community. In practice, fertilization management for the restoration of degraded grassland should be conducted with reference to the nutrient levels ofnatural grassland without the additional artificial fertilizer and with higher species-diversity and richness index.  相似文献   

Species richness,diversity and density of understory vegetation along disturbance gradients in the Himalayan conifer forest     

Kesang WANGCHUK  András DARABANT  Prem Bahadur RAI  Maria WURZINGER  Werner ZOLLITSCH  Georg GRATZER 《山地科学学报》2014,11(5):1182-1191

We investigated whether species richness, diversity and density of understory herbaceous plants differed along logging(gap) and grazing(primarily by cattle) disturbance gradients, and sought to identify drivers of richness, diversity and density of understory vegetation of logged sites. A factorial experiment was conducted in the mixed conifer forest of Gidakom in Western Bhutan. Levels of the logging treatment included small(0.15 – 0.24 ha), medium(0.25 – 0.35 ha) and large(0.36 – 1.31 ha) gaps. The grazing treatment included grazed(primarily by cattle) and ungrazed(where herbivores were excluded by a fence) plots nested within each gap. Data were collected from 12 gaps(4 replicates at each level of logging) using the point intercept method. Shannon Weaver Diversity and Margalef's indices were used to estimate species diversity and describe species richness, respectively. Soil samples were analyzed for pH and nutrients. The interaction effect of logging and grazing was significant(p≤0.001) only on species diversity. Relative to ungrazed areas, species diversity was significantly higher(0.01≤p≤0.05) in medium grazed gaps. Under grazed conditions, soil P was negatively correlated with gap size and species diversity. While species diversity was positivelycorrelated(0.01≤p≤0.05) with soil N in grazed plots species richness was positively correlated(0.001≤p≤0.01) with soil N in ungrazed plots. Relative density of Yushania microphylla and Carex nubigena were higher under ungrazed conditions. Our study suggests that the combined effect of cattle grazing and logging results in higher species diversity of understory vegetation in medium and grazed gaps in mixed conifer forests of Bhutan,whereas increase or decrease in relative density of major species is determined primarily by the independent effects of grazing and logging. From management perspective, forest managers must refrain from creating large gaps to avoid loss of nutrients(mainly P and N), which may eventually affect tree regeneration. Managers intending to maintain understory vegetation diversity must consider the combined effects of grazing and logging, ensuring low to moderate grazing pressure.  相似文献   

Conflation and aggregation of spatial data improve predictive models for species with limited habitats: A case of the threatened yellow-billed cuckoo in Arizona,USA     

《Applied geography (Sevenoaks, England)》2014

Riparian vegetation provides important wildlife habitat in the southwestern United States, but limited distributions and spatial complexity often leads to inaccurate representation in maps used to guide conservation. We test the use of data conflation and aggregation on multiple vegetation/land-cover maps to improve the accuracy of habitat models for the threatened western yellow-billed cuckoo (Coccyzus americanus occidentalis). We used species observations (n = 479) from a state-wide survey to develop habitat models from 1) three vegetation/land-cover maps produced at different geographic scales ranging from state to national, and 2) new aggregate maps defined by the spatial agreement of cover types, which were defined as high (agreement = all data sets), moderate (agreement ≥ 2), and low (no agreement required). Model accuracies, predicted habitat locations, and total area of predicted habitat varied considerably, illustrating the effects of input data quality on habitat predictions and resulting potential impacts on conservation planning. Habitat models based on aggregated and conflated data were more accurate and had higher model sensitivity than original vegetation/land-cover, but this accuracy came at the cost of reduced geographic extent of predicted habitat. Using the highest performing models, we assessed cuckoo habitat preference and distribution in Arizona and found that major watersheds containing high-probably habitat are fragmented by a wide swath of low-probability habitat. Focus on riparian restoration in these areas could provide more breeding habitat for the threatened cuckoo, offset potential future habitat losses in adjacent watershed, and increase regional connectivity for other threatened vertebrates that also use riparian corridors.  相似文献   

Species distribution modelling to support marine conservation planning: The next steps     

《Marine Policy》2014

Species distribution models (SDMs) offer great potential for inclusion into the toolbox of today's marine environmental manager, especially with regard to marine conservation and planning. The application of SDMs in the marine environment over recent years has been varied but there are still relatively few examples in comparison with terrestrial application, and this is especially true in deep-sea marine ecosystems. This short article builds upon two recent review articles concerning the application of species distribution modelling studies in the marine realm, offering additional practical considerations for discussion. Recommendations for progressing the improved application of SDMs to support marine conservation planning are given, including combining model outputs with other data layers, metadata standards and model error. SDMs have both an urgent and long term contribution to make to marine conservation planning globally, and it is hoped that this article, in combination with developing research on marine SDMs, will contribute to some much needed discussion and inform best practice and new research to enable these models to be of greater use to marine managers.  相似文献