Download or read book Spatial Patterns and Habitat Associations of Targeted Reef Fish in and Around a Marine Protected Area in St Croix U S Virgin Islands written by Jamie M. Kilgo and published by . This book was released on 2012 with total page 50 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: As marine protected areas (MPAs) become an increasingly popular method to address global declines of coral reef ecosystems, understanding how to gauge no-take reserve effectiveness through both simple metrics and spatially quantitative methods is imperative for robust design and management. In order to be an effective fisheries management tool, it must be shown that MPAs do not simply displace fishing effort, but can actually increase the biomass or density of fish in adjacent fisheries. Net export of adult fish to surrounding waters, termed the spillover effect, is one way MPAs may function to replenish fish stocks. The ability to detect the spillover effect using simple metrics of abundance and biomass for five highly targeted species was tested for an MPA in the US Virgin Islands. Moreover, it is equally important for managers to understand linkages between reef fish biomass patterns and associated habitat at multiple scales. Habitat characteristics that influence distribution patterns of targeted reef fish can be explored through spatial statistics and spatial multivariate models. In this study, the specific aim was to further evaluate seascape and local site habitat metrics to find how spatial scales of habitat composition and configuration can be used together cohesively to understand reef fish distribution patterns. In addition, global and local spatial regression models were compared to determine if there is non-stationarity of ecological processes across management zones. Results of this study reinforce the complexities of fish-habitat interactions, which make detection of spillover difficult using simple metrics. However, using a combination of both multi-scale spatial habitat metrics and local regression methods can aid in MPA management and design.
Download or read book Acoustic Tracking of Reef Fishes to Elucidate Habitat Utilization Patterns and Residence Times Inside and Outside Marine Protected Areas Around the Island of St John USVI written by Alan Marc Friedlander and published by . This book was released on 2007 with total page 47 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This technical memorandum describes a developing project under the direction of NOAA's Biogeography Branch in consultation with the National Park Service and US Geological Survey to understand and quantify spatial patterns and habitat affinities of reef fishes in the US Virgin Islands. The purpose of this report is to describe and disseminate the initial results from the project and to share information on the location of acoustic receivers and species electronic tag ID codes. The Virgin Islands Coral Reef National Monument (VICRNM), adjacent to Virgin Islands National Park (VIIS), was established by Executive Order in 2000, but resources within the monument are poorly documented and the degree of connectivity to VIIS is unknown. Whereas, VICRNM was established with full protection from resource exploitation, VIIS has incurred resource harvest by fishers since 1956 as allowed in its enabling legislation. Large changes in local reef communities have occurred over the past several decades, in part due to overexploitation. In order to better understand the habitat utilization patterns and movement of fishes among management regimes and areas open to fishing around St, John, an array of hydroacoustic receivers was deployed while a variety of reef fish species were acoustically tagged. In July 2006, nine receivers with a detection range of ca. 350 m were deployed in Lameshur Bay on the south shore of St. John, within VIIS. Receivers were located adjacent to reefs and in seagrass beds, inshore and offshore of these reefs. It was found that lane snappers and bluestriped grunts showed diel movement from reef habitats during daytime hours to offshore seagrass bed at night. Timing of migrations was highly predictable and coincided with changes in sunrise and sunset over the course of the year. Fish associated with reefs that did not have adjacent seagrass beds made more extensive movements than those fishes associated with reefs that had adjacent seagrass habitats. In April 2007, 21 additional receivers were deployed along much of the south shore of St. John (ca. 20 km of shoreline). This current array will address broader-scale movement among management units and examine the potential benefits of the VICRNM to provide adult 'spillover' into VIIS and adjacent harvested areas. The results from this work will aid in defining fine to moderate spatial scales of reef fish habitat affinities and in designing and evaluating marine protected areas.
Download or read book Habitat and Distribution Models of Marine and Estuarine Species Advances for a Sustainable Future written by Mary C. Fabrizio and published by Frontiers Media SA. This book was released on 2022-11-23 with total page 268 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Coral Reef Fish Habitat Associations and Implications for Research Monitoring and the Design of Marine Protected Areas written by Benjamin Michael Fitzpatrick and published by . This book was released on 2012 with total page 171 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: [Truncated abstract] The goal of this work was to investigate the finescale habitat associations and determine the effect of human impacts on coral reef fish assemblages. Initially I investigate how finescale spatial habitat variation influences the distribution and abundance of coral reef fishes. Significant variation in the reef fish assemblage was driven by variation in habitat. Consequently finescale habitat variation needs be accounted for in spatial or temporal surveys of coral fish assemblages. My second question investigated how protection from fishing influences the overall variation in coral reef fish assemblages, while my third question investigated how consistent the differences in protected fish assemblages are through time. Protection from fishing accounted for significantly more variation in fish assemblages than that explained by finescale habitat alone. This was driven by an average abundance and length of target species being higher inside sanctuaries and a response in non-target species indicating that there are some trophic interactions occurring between fishes. I found that both target and non-target species can be more abundant at protected reefscapes through time, consistent with the theory that protected areas can achieve recovery and lasting maintenance of fish assemblage structure relative to adjacent fished locations. I also investigated how fish assemblages within shallow coral reef habitats differ to those of adjacent continental shelf habitats to a depth of 100m. Cross-shelf sampling produced significant new knowledge on the depth and habitat specificity of many species previously only known from shallow coral reef environments. Many target species protected by shallow water protected areas are found as adults in unpotected shelf waters suggesting shallow water protected areas alone may not be effective for all species equally. Expanded depth distributions for many species revealed some refuge at depth from shallow water climate related impacts, though it is uncertain how this might contribute to persistence in populations at a local or regional scale. Many species are confined to one or a few shallow water habitats for their entire post recruitment lifehistory as opposed to others that can range across many. Fish assemblages associated with deeper water habitats are composed of higher order predators and high numbers of unique species, suggesting they will respond very differently to shallow waters when impacted by fisheries. Diversity and unique species associated with deep water habitats approached those found at shallow coral reef habitats. Habitat specialization changes dramatically from species to species and was not easily predicted. This research holds a number of key implications. Firstly the design of coral reef marine protected areas and associated monitoring programs should account for variation in benthic habitat. Fishing and other human impacts affect significantly different elements of coral reef fish assemblages depending upon the biological and physical parameters of the benthic habitat found. Marine protected areas should incorporate this habitat variability wherever practical, as discrete elements of trophic structure were significantly associated with different habitats...
Download or read book Movers and Stayers written by Ashleigh Novak and published by . This book was released on 2018 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: When movement ecology of target species is coupled with spatial management approaches, such as marine protected areas (MPAs), the results can establish effective conservation outcomes. Nevertheless, a knowledge gap persists regarding how many marine organisms use specific environments over long, continuous periods of time. Acoustic telemetry arrays and fine-scale positioning systems are quickly pervading the marine environment as they can monitor animal movements on a near continuous basis, filling in many previous unknowns on spatial use patterns. Further, coupling fine-scale movement patterns and benthic habitat data provides a spatial framework foundation essential to understanding the intricacies of how habitats can drive movement ecology, and how organisms might link adjacent habitats and resources through movement. The first chapter of this thesis quantified both the broad- and fine-scale movement patterns of yellowtail snapper Ocyurus chrysurus (n = 8) around Buck Island Reef National Monument (BIRNM), St. Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands, an MPA managed by the National Park Service. High site fidelity and a clear affinity to the western shelf break characterized common broad-scale movements observed for this species. Two distinct contingents were detected by the positioning system suggesting individuals were using habitats in two unique, highly structured ways, however, this result requires further validation through an increased sample size. For the second chapter, I characterized the broad-scale movement ecology of horse-eye jack Caranx latus (n = 7), an understudied, but common predatory reef fish. Horse-eye jack are wide ranging, with most individuals visiting almost all receivers (n = 78) in the BIRNM array network. Comparatively, horse-eye jack made more frequent BIRNM boundary crossings into adjacent MPAs harboring various levels of protection. Taken together, these two case studies highlight how sympatric reef species differentially use space within BIRNM and highlight the necessity of evaluating MPA efficacy across species and over longer time scales. Constructing single species movement assessments is essential information, yet there is now a demonstrated need for community movement studies. The final chapter of this thesis highlights promising next steps for this project, including the proposal of a new hourly or sub hourly movement trajectory analysis, potentially capable of elucidating species interactions in near real-time. Together, this thesis not only fills data gaps on species deficient in ecological studies (horse-eye jack) but illuminates individuality in habitat and space use (yellowtail snapper), and how these analyses can be tied back in to developing stronger holistic community population assessments. With continued exploitation of marine environments and increasing anthropogenic demand of marine resources, the need for understanding processes driving species movements is essential in developing successful spatial management plans.
Download or read book Spatial Ecology Of Great Barracuda Sphyraena Barracuda Rpara Around Buck Island Reef National Monument St Croix U S V I written by Sarah L. Becker and published by . This book was released on 2016 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Marine protected areas (MPAs) are increasing in popularity as a tool to manage fish stocks through conservation of entire habitats and fish assemblages. Quantifying the habitat use, site fidelity, and movement patterns of marine species is vital to this method of marine spatial planning. The success of these protected areas requires that sufficient habitat is guarded against fishing pressure. For large animals, which often have correspondingly large home range areas, protecting an entire home range can be logistically challenging. For MPAs to successfully protect large top predator species, it is important to understand what areas of a home range are especially important, such as breeding and feeding grounds. New technologies, such as acoustic telemetry, have made it possible to track marine animal movements at finer spatial and temporal scales than previously possible, better illuminating these spatial use patterns. This study focused on the movement patterns of great barracuda (n=35), an ecologically important top predator, around Buck Island Reef National Monument, a no-take MPA in St. Croix, U.S.V.I. managed by the National Park Service. As developing standardized methods for acoustic telemetry is still a work in progress, the first half of this study focuses on determining appropriate tools for generating home range size estimates for great barracuda and analyzing ecological parameters driving these results. The second half of this study focused on the use of network analysis to look at spatial divisions within individual home ranges and to compare individual to population level spatial patterns, as well as to generate a relative estimate of population density within the park. Barracuda within the park demonstrated high site fidelity to individual territories, but at the population level they consistently used all habitats within the array. Core use areas within home ranges were evenly distributed throughout all habitats monitored by the acoustic array, although movement corridors were detected along high rugosity reef structures. Greater population densities within the park indicate that density dependent behaviors may be influencing habitat use within the park, and suggest that barracuda are contributing high levels of top down pressure through predation within the park boundaries.
Download or read book Fish Assemblages and Benthic Habitats of Buck Island Reef National Monument St Croix U S Virgin Islands and the Surrounding Seascape written by Simon Pittman and published by . This book was released on 2008 with total page 80 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Fish Assemblages and Benthic Habitats of Buck Island Reef National Monument St Croix U S Virgin Islands and the Surrounding Seascape written by Simon Pittman and published by . This book was released on 2008 with total page 80 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Reef Fish Spatial Distribution and Benthic Habitat Associations on the Southeast Florida Reef Tract written by Dana Fisco and published by . This book was released on 2016 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Florida Reef Tract (FRT) extends from the tropical Caribbean up the southeast coast of Florida into a temperate environment where tropical reef assemblages diminish with increasing latitude. This study used data from a three-year comprehensive fishery-independent survey to quantify reef fish spatial distribution along the Southeast FRT and define where the assemblage shifts from tropical to temperate. A total of 1,676 reef fish visual census samples were conducted to assess the populations on a stratified-random selection of sites of marine hardbottom habitats between the Miami River and St. Lucie inlet. Multivariate analyses were used to investigate differences in assemblages among sites. Depth (m), general habitat (reef or hardbottom), and slope (high or low) strata were examined to explain the dissimilarities between assemblages. A general trend of cold-tolerant temperate fish dominated the northern assemblages and more tropical species dominated further south. Seven reef fish assemblage biogeographic regions were determined. In shallow habitats the data clustered in three spatial regions: One south of Hillsboro inlet, one in Northern Palm Beach south of Lake Worth inlet, and one north of Lake Worth inlet. The assemblage in deep habitats mainly split in close proximity to the Bahamas Fracture Zone south of Lake Worth Inlet. The presence of reef habitat aided in splitting the southern assemblage regions from the northern all-hardbottom assemblage regions in both the shallow and deep habitats. Substrate relief was significantly correlated with the differences in the northernmost deep assemblages but did not appear to affect the remainder of the shallow and deep assemblages. This bioregional study creates a baseline assessment of reef fish assemblages of the Southeast FRT for future analyses.
Download or read book Characterizing Habitat Preference in Three Nearshore Reef associated Fishes Through Collaborative Research Public Data and Open Source Software written by Ian D. Kelmartin and published by . This book was released on 2018 with total page 53 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Black rockfish (Sebastes melanops), canary rockfish (S. pinniger), and lingcod (Ophidion elongatus) are important species in Northern California's nearshore recreational and commercial fisheries. These species are associated with nearshore rocky reefs and are among a suite of species intended to benefit from the establishment of the marine protected area (MPA) network along the Northern California Coast in 2012. Many aspects of the North Coast's nearshore ecosystem remain poorly studied, including the spatial distribution and habitat associations of nearshore fish species. This study used data collected from Cape Mendocino State Marine Reserve (SMR), Ten Mile SMR, and paired, nearby reference sites to investigate the habitat associations of black rockfish, canary rockfish, and lingcod on the North Coast by generating Maxent habitat suitability models for each species. This study showed black rockfish associated with high relief, rocky habitat, less than ~30 meters in depth, lingcod associated with rocky habitat, independent of relief, deeper than 20 meters, and canary rockfish associated with high relief rocky habitat, deeper than ~35 meters. The findings of this study also investigated and supported the findings of a previous study that found canary rockfish associated with the edge of rocky reef and sandy habitats. Maxent modeling can increase manager's understanding of the habitat used by marine fishes and inform the establishment of MPAs, designation of Essential Fish Habitat, and regional catch limits by identifying where habitat might support more productive populations, especially for poorly studied stocks.
Download or read book Reef Fisheries written by Polunin Nicholas V.C. and published by Springer. This book was released on 2014-10-09 with total page 477 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Reef ecosystems extend throughout the tropics. Exploited by small-scale fishers, reefs supply food for millions of people, but, worldwide, there are growing worries about the productivity and current state of these ecosystems. Reef fish stocks display many features of fisheries elsewhere. However, habitat spatial complexity, biological diversity within and among species, ecosystem intricacy and variable means of exploitation make it hard to predict sustainable modes and levels of fishing.
Download or read book Fully protected Marine Reserves written by Callum M. Roberts and published by . This book was released on 2000 with total page 276 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Coral Reef Remote Sensing written by James A. Goodman and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2013-04-18 with total page 446 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Remote sensing stands as the defining technology in our ability to monitor coral reefs, as well as their biophysical properties and associated processes, at regional to global scales. With overwhelming evidence that much of Earth’s reefs are in decline, our need for large-scale, repeatable assessments of reefs has never been so great. Fortunately, the last two decades have seen a rapid expansion in the ability for remote sensing to map and monitor the coral reef ecosystem, its overlying water column, and surrounding environment. Remote sensing is now a fundamental tool for the mapping, monitoring and management of coral reef ecosystems. Remote sensing offers repeatable, quantitative assessments of habitat and environmental characteristics over spatially extensive areas. As the multi-disciplinary field of coral reef remote sensing continues to mature, results demonstrate that the techniques and capabilities continue to improve. New developments allow reef assessments and mapping to be performed with higher accuracy, across greater spatial areas, and with greater temporal frequency. The increased level of information that remote sensing now makes available also allows more complex scientific questions to be addressed. As defined for this book, remote sensing includes the vast array of geospatial data collected from land, water, ship, airborne and satellite platforms. The book is organized by technology, including: visible and infrared sensing using photographic, multispectral and hyperspectral instruments; active sensing using light detection and ranging (LiDAR); acoustic sensing using ship, autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) and in-water platforms; and thermal and radar instruments. Emphasis and Audience This book serves multiple roles. It offers an overview of the current state-of-the-art technologies for reef mapping, provides detailed technical information for coral reef remote sensing specialists, imparts insight on the scientific questions that can be tackled using this technology, and also includes a foundation for those new to reef remote sensing. The individual sections of the book include introductory overviews of four main types of remotely sensed data used to study coral reefs, followed by specific examples demonstrating practical applications of the different technologies being discussed. Guidelines for selecting the most appropriate sensor for particular applications are provided, including an overview of how to utilize remote sensing data as an effective tool in science and management. The text is richly illustrated with examples of each sensing technology applied to a range of scientific, monitoring and management questions in reefs around the world. As such, the book is broadly accessible to a general audience, as well as students, managers, remote sensing specialists and anyone else working with coral reef ecosystems.
Download or read book Guidelines for Applying Protected Area Management Categories written by Nigel Dudley and published by IUCN. This book was released on 2008 with total page 106 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: IUCN's Protected Areas Management Categories, which classify protected areas according to their management objectives, are today accepted as the benchmark for defining, recording, and classifying protected areas. They are recognized by international bodies such as the United Nations as well as many national governments. As a result, they are increasingly being incorporated into government legislation. These guidelines provide as much clarity as possible regarding the meaning and application of the Categories. They describe the definition of the Categories and discuss application in particular biomes and management approaches.
Download or read book Movement Patterns of Rockfishes at the Redfish Rocks Marine Reserve Oregon written by Thomas P. Calvanese and published by . This book was released on 2016 with total page 68 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The effects of Marine protected areas (MPAs) on adult fish populations depend on the degree of protection provided, which is partly a function of MPA size and the spatial extent of fish movements. The Redfish Rocks Marine Reserve (RRMR) and MPA, located on the south coast of Oregon near Port Orford, went into effect on January 1, 2012. The boundaries of the RRMR were informed by the experience of local fishermen, but without explicit knowledge of the movement patterns of individual fish. One of the intended effects of this reserve was to provide protection for Pacific rockfishes that had been targeted there by the live fish fishery. We conducted a 17- month acoustic telemetry study to document the movement patterns of 20 individuals (6-7 each) of China Rockfish (Sebastes nebulosus), Quillback Rockfish (S. maliger), and Copper Rockfish (S. caurinus) at Redfish Rocks, Oregon. Objectives were to (1) estimate residence times for individuals of each species, (2) evaluate spatial and temporal movement patterns, and (3) analyze the relationship between habitat attributes and movement patterns. Our results demonstrated that this small (6.78 km2) no-take marine reserve provides refuge for a substantial portion of the local population of these demersal residential fishes, due to those species’ high site fidelity to this patch of high relief rocky reef habitat located within the Redfish Rocks Marine Reserve.
Download or read book Characterization of Deep Water Reef Communities Within the Marine Conservation District St Thomas U S Virgin Islands written by and published by . This book was released on 2008 with total page 88 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "The purpose of this research was to validate habitat classifications developed for the CFMC and to assess fisheries and non-fisheries resources within this marine protected area. This research provides information that is applicable for the classification and ranking of essential fish habitat (EFH) within the MCD and similar mesophotic reef habitat (30 - 50 m) along the Puerto Rican Shelf"--Executive summary.
Download or read book Spatio temporal Ecology and Management of Temperate Reef Fish Populations written by and published by . This book was released on 2017 with total page 98 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The demography of marine reef fishes with a dispersive larval stage can be highly variable, with several processes that govern reproduction, dispersal, and recruitment operating across multiple spatial and temporal scales. Characterizing the patterns of this variation and the underlying processes responsible for them can help guide efforts to conserve and manage human impacts on these species. In this dissertation, I explore how associations between temperate reef habitat and fish reproductive potential may vary across spatial scales, how spatial and temporal variation in larval production can influence spatial management strategies, and how stochastic variation in larval dispersal and settlement may affect the ability to detect the impacts of management actions. Habitat attributes may have both separate and combined effects on the reproductive potential of reef fishes across spatial scales, but the patterns and ecological processes governing these relationships do not necessarily "scale up" from small-scale, in-situ observations to whole reefs and seascapes. In Chapter 1, I combine in-situ dive surveys with high-resolution habitat maps to investigate how associations between reproductive potential of the kelp bass (Paralabrax clathratus) and kelp forest habitat attributes translate between within- and among-reef spatial scales. Macroalgae and benthic rugosity explain the most variation in reproductive potential within reefs, but the configuration of available habitat explains more variation among reefs. I propose that a mismatch between processes operating at different spatial scales is responsible for these results and suggest that future efforts to clarify among-reef relationships are necessary to estimate reproductive potential of fishes on rocky reefs. Marine reserves are an integral management tool to protect biomass and rebuild depleted fisheries, particularly when important locations for larval production are protected. However, given the uncertainty and temporally dynamic nature of spatially-structured populations, rotating closures might provide a more adaptive solution to both conserve and utilize built-up biomass. In Chapter 2, I construct an age-structured population model with spatially-structured larval productivity to compare the relative efficacy of marine reserves and rotating closures at achieving conservation and fishery management goals. Given a population with a static larval production location, rotating closures outperform permanently fishing the larval production location but underperform permanently protecting the larval production location in the source in terms of total biomass and yield. When the location of the larval production varies in time, permanent reserves generally sustain higher biomass but rotating closures allow for higher fishery yield, and these results are robust to uncertainty in the location of the larval production in any given year. Rotating closures may therefore better buffer against spatial uncertainty in production locations while permanent reserves buffer against temporal uncertainty. Many marine populations are subject to considerable interannual variation in critical demographic rates such as larval dispersal and survival, and such variation may obscure short-term population responses to protection by marine reserves. In Chapter 3, I consider an age-structured population with stochastic variation in larval survival and population openness to explore the conditions under which managers might expect to observe population responses contrary to deterministic projections through the first 10 years of reserve protection. While the shape of stochasticity in larval survival does not have a strong effect on the ability to detect population changes due to reserve protection, temporal autocorrelation in survival does increase the risk of failing to detect a reserve effect. The degree of population openness may indirectly affect recovery trajectories by changing intrinsic population growth rates, but resolving overall larval survival matters more to detecting reserve effects than does resolving larval origin.
