Search results | Digital Commons of Moss Landing Marine Laboratories

Title: Disentangling the effects of fishing and environmental forcing on demographic variation in an exploited species
Description: Species targeted by fishing often recover in abundance and size within marine protected areas (MPAs) resulting in increased reproductive potential. However, in some situations, concomitant changes in the abundance of predators, competitors, or prey within MPAs, or strong gradients in the surrounding environmental seascape may counteract the purported benefits making it more difficult to predict how species will respond to protection. We used a network of MPAs in California, spanning a large temperature gradient, to investigate the drivers of demographic variability in the commercially important red sea urchin Mesocentrotus franciscanus. We investigated how demographic metrics varied geographically in response to protection, temperature, and the main sea urchin resource, the giant kelp Macrocystis pyrifera. We found significant conservation benefits to this fished sea urchin within MPAs designated six years prior to the beginning of this study. Within MPAs, red sea urchins were generally larger resulting in greater adult biomass density and reproductive biomass density. In addition, kelp density was an important explanatory variable of all red sea urchin demographic traits examined (adult size, gonadosomatic index [GSI], density, adult biomass density, and reproductive biomass density). Kelp density was positively correlated with red sea urchin GSI and adult size, but the relationships with density, adult biomass density, and reproductive biomass density were complex and the directionality changed depending on the region (or environmental setting) examined. Our results demonstrate that kelp, red sea urchin reproduction, and the effects of spatial management on demographic processes are tightly coupled with the oceanographic regime. © 2017 Elsevier Ltd
Author: Teck, Lorda, Shears, Bell, Cornejo-Donoso, Caselle, Hamilton, Gaines

Title: First quantification of subtidal community structure at Tristan da Cunha Islands in the remote South Atlantic from kelp forests to the deep sea
Description: Tristan da Cunha Islands, an archipelago of four rocky volcanic islands situated in the South Atlantic Ocean and part of the United Kingdom Overseas Territories (UKOTs), present a rare example of a relatively unimpacted temperate marine ecosystem. We conducted the first quantitative surveys of nearshore kelp forests, offshore pelagic waters and deep sea habitats. Kelp forests had very low biodiversity and species richness, but high biomass and abundance of those species present. Spatial variation in assemblage structure for both nearshore fish and invertebrates/algae was greatest between the three northern islands and the southern island of Gough, where sea temperatures were on average 3-4o colder. Despite a lobster fishery that provides the bulk of the income to the Tristan islands, lobster abundance and biomass are comparable to or greater than many Marine Protected Areas in other parts of the world. Pelagic camera surveys documented a rich biodiversity offshore, including large numbers of juvenile blue sharks, Prionace glauca. Species richness and abundance in the deep sea is positively related to hard rocky substrate and biogenic habitats such as sea pens, crinoids, whip corals, and gorgonians were present at 40% of the deep camera deployments. We observed distinct differences in the deep fish community above and below ~750 m depth. Concurrent oceanographic sampling showed a discontinuity in temperature and salinity at this depth. While currently healthy, Tristan's marine ecosystem is not without potential threats: shipping traffic leading to wrecks and species introductions, pressure to increase fishing effort beyond sustainable levels and the impacts of climate change all could potentially increase in the coming years. The United Kingdom has committed to protection of marine environments across the UKOTs, including Tristan da Cunha and these results can be used to inform future management decisions as well as provide a baseline against which future monitoring can be based.
Author: Caselle, Hamilton, Davis, Thompson, Turchik, Jenkinson, Simpson, Sala

Title: Collaborative fisheries research in California
Author: Caselle

Title: Recovery trajectories of kelp forest animals are rapid yet spatially variable across a network of temperate marine protected areas
Description: Oceans currently face a variety of threats, requiring ecosystem-based approaches to management such as networks of marine protected areas (MPAs). We evaluated changes in fish biomass on temperate rocky reefs over the decade following implementation of a network of MPAs in the northern Channel Islands, California. We found that the biomass of targeted (i.e. fished) species has increased consistently inside all MPAs in the network, with an effect of geography on the strength of the response. More interesting, biomass of targeted fish species also increased outside MPAs, although only 27% as rapidly as in the protected areas, indicating that redistribution of fishing effort has not severely affected unprotected populations. Whether the increase outside of MPAs is due to changes in fishing pressure, fisheries management actions, adult spillover, favorable environmental conditions, or a combination of all four remains unknown. We evaluated methods of controlling for biogeographic or environmental variation across networks of protected areas and found similar performance of models incorporating empirical sea surface temperature versus a simple geographic blocking term based on assemblage structure. The patterns observed are promising indicators of the success of this network, but more work is needed to understand how ecological and physical contexts affect MPA performance. © 2015, Nature Publishing Group. All rights reserved., Export Date: 2 October 2015
Author: Caselle, Rassweiler, Hamilton, Warner
Date: 2015-01-01T00:00:00Z

Title: Ecosystem assessment of the Tristan Da Cunha Islands
Description: In January–February 2017, National Geographic’s Pristine Seas project, in collaboration with the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) and the Tristan da Cunha Government (including the Fisheries and Conservation Departments) conducted a 21-day expedition to Tristan da Cunha, Nightingale, Inaccessible and Gough Islands. The primary goals of the expedition were to conduct comprehensive quantitative surveys of the health of the archipelago’s largely unknown marine environment to assist the Government and people of Tristan da Cunha in planning marine protection . The results of the expedition highlight the unique marine ecosystem of this archipelago, particularly the pelagic and deep-sea environments, which were virtually unstudied and documented scientifically.The work presented in this report is meant to complement ongoing research at Tristan da Cunha and provide a springboard to help inform the Tristan Government about potential protection schemes that protect both important fisheries and unique biodiversity of the archipelago. .
Author: Caselle, Hamilton, Davis, Bester, Wege, Thompson, Turchik, Jenkinson, Simpson, Mayorga